Without A Trace
by DarkElements10
Summary: "Our strength is often composed of the weakness that we're damned if we are going to show." - Mignon McLaughlin. Kendall is in trouble. Big trouble. But he can't tell anyone why. And he has to get out as soon as possible or else everyone around him will be in danger. -Based on/Inspired by the movie Abduction and Kendall's episode of Without a Trace.-
1. TrueFalse

**Without A Trace**

**By: Riley**

**Summary – **"Our strength is often composed of the weakness that we're damned if we are going to show." - Mignon McLaughlin. Kendall is in trouble. Big trouble. But he can't tell anyone why. And he has to get out as soon as possible or else everyone around him will be in danger.

_Inspired by the movies Red Eye and Abduction, a part of the movie The Roommate, as well as the book Chasing the Falconers, and Kendall's episode of Without a Trace._

_Rated 'T' for language, violence, and sexuality._

* * *

**.:Chapter One:.**

* * *

The first punch was hard and slammed Kendall into the wall; the second one knocked him to the floor. Through the assault he gritted his teeth, hoping to escape the pain. But, like usual, it didn't work. It didn't block out the reality of the precise and brutal kicks that were delivered to Kendall's ribs – he tried in vain to calm down and focus on retaliation. He was too angry, too determined to make it stop after a few hits. He tried to inch his way down the hall rolling with the kicks until he reached the stairs. One final kick and Kendall lets out a short gasp of surprise before he tumbled down the stairs.

It hurt, and he had no sense of up or down. It was over in a matter of seconds. Kendall took a moment after he landed at the bottom to assess the damage. He waited for the tell-tale throbbing of a concussion, the burning hell of a broken leg, and apart from the dull pain from what he would guess to be a mild sprain of his ankle, he was fine.

Kendall got up slowly, but it only angered his assailant even further. His attacker bounded down the stairs after him. Kendall stumbled as fast as he could to the vast kitchen, searching for something, anything, to defend himself with. He could feel the fear taking over, can feel the panic setting in.

Where are the rolling pins?

In the bottom of a drawer, too far away to dig out at a moment's notice.

Frying pans?

Below the sink, with the detachable handles in a separate drawer.

Kendall's hand fumbled for the knife block. He finally managed to pull one out, a good-sized carving knife.

It slid out of the block with the soft hissing of sharpened metal on wood.

Not a second too soon – his attacker burst into the room with a murderous look in his eyes, mouth contorted with rage...Kendall turned, brandishing the knife, to defend himself…he moved quickly…his attacker moved faster.

One blow to his chest and Kendall was stumbling back, his hand losing grip on the knife. Then suddenly, it was gone, and he was being choked. Kendall's hands flew up to his neck, trying to move his attacker's hand; his green eyes looked up when a glint caught his eye.

The knife was in his attacker's hand and it was moving down. Everything moved in slow motion. The corners of Kendall's field of vision darkened, he opened his mouth to scream…

Kendall's face slackened with surprise when his father stabbed him…

…

..

.

Kendall Knight woke up with a start, his eyes wide and frantically darting around the room. He sat up, still breathing heavily, trying to remember where he was. His labored breathing slowed down, his racing heart slowed, and his hands stopped shaking when he remembered where he was.

Palm Woods.

LA.

_But just to be sure _Kendall turned and plunged his hand under his pillow, his fingers frantically spidering over the fabric of the sheets. His fingers brushed up against something cool and he reached forward and grasped the object.

Pulling it out into the moonlight that streamed through the windows, Kendall held a silver 9mm pistol in his hand. He turned it over and checked it, sighing in relied when he saw that it was still on safety, and then slid it back under his pillow…

* * *

Kendall nervously looked back and forth across the street as he walked along with his friends. He couldn't shake the feeling that he was being watched.

He had gotten used to it when the reality show crew came around, though the first few times he would jump when a camera was shoved in his face, and that was also before he got annoyed of it. Then there was the paparazzi that started to stalk the boys once they had gotten back from their summer tour, but that had died down pretty quickly. He was even used to the stares and the adoring gazes that he got from fans that were too shy to come up to him and say something or ask for a picture or autograph. But this feeling was different, it sent chills up and down his spine and it was making him a wreck.

He had felt that way for a while and it was now starting to scare him more than it did the first time. It was a sinister feeling that just reminded him that he needed to get away from LA as fast as possible. He didn't have much time left; he couldn't have his friends be in danger anymore, not because of his stupid mistakes. But he wasn't sure how to get out without them worrying, without telling them what was going on. It would make things too messy, he couldn't have the police involved, and it would just make everything worse.

He brought a hand up to his mouth, starting to chew on his fingernails. He hadn't had that bad habit since he had moved out to LA, he was too busy working on the band and having fun with his friends and hanging out. He thought the stress from Gustavo yelling at them and the filled schedule he had would cause it to come back. But it wasn't a big enough stress; he wasn't as worried about that.

"Kendall, are you ok?"

Kendall jumped when James placed a hand on his shoulder. He turned to look at his tall friend and mustered up a grin. "Yeah, I'm good," he said with a nod. "Just thinking about the promotion that we have to do next week. It's really cool that we get to perform at the amusement park."

"What's even cooler is that we get to go on all of the rides for _free_ because we're performing at the park," Carlos reminded him. He punched the air. "Steph and I all ready have a plan of getting on every roller coaster there."

"Do you know how long that would take?" Dak Zevon scratched the back of his head. "Depending on if you show starts on time and, of course, whether or not Gustavo thinks you're ready for it." He looked at his watch. "Which reminds me, I've scheduled another run through for your vocals on Saturday. You did well today, but not as well as you usually do."

"Correct me if I'm wrong, but you don't work with Gustavo or Rocque Records anymore," Logan said, scratching the back of his head. "So why isn't Gustavo or Kelly telling us when we're going over vocals?"

"Because Gustavo and Kelly are freaking each other out about your performance next week," Dak explained patiently. "Especially with Griffin riding Gustavo's ass about it." Kendall, Logan, Carlos, and James all nodded.

They knew how much Gustavo hated Griffin and how badly he was treated by his boss. Gustavo would do anything to get Griffin out of his hair and getting him back with a good performance was usually one of the ways that he did it. So they could understand the pressure that was being put on them. In the beginning, to prove to Griffin that he could still work, he had hired Dak to help them with their vocal work and stage presence to get ready for their first concert. Dak didn't work with Gustavo anymore, but he still helped them whenever he was asked.

"Anyway, like I said, you all did a good job but you need the extra practice," Dak continued. He looked up, reading the front side of a building and then turned, leading them inside. The five of them walked through a number of hallways before reaching a recording studio. Dak knocked on the door before entering.

Their friend, Sydney Jackson-McGuire, was sitting in a chair, his laptop on top of his crossed legs. He looked up at his friends and gave them a smile before lowering his goggles to around his neck. "Hey, what are you guys doing here?" He asked.

"What do you mean?" Carlos moved over to a couch and flopped down. Logan and James moved to sit beside him as Dak opted to sit on the floor. "We were bored and wanted to see what you guys were doing."

"Sorry," Sydney shrugged. "But it's only me today, the others had the day off, so they went with Matt down to San Diego to check out some bands that Ronan might start producing." He turned his attention back to his laptop, making rapid clicks on the keyboard. "But I'm going to be done soon, if you don't mind waiting for a few minutes."

"What are you doing anyway, Little Man?" Kendall moved his hands to his jeans pockets. He was leaning against the wall by the door. _Just get ready for a quick escape if you need it._ He reassured himself, wiping a hand over his face.

"Mixing a demo that we've had for a while." He said it as casually as if he was saying he was doing homework. "Just trying to see what it would sound like if we actually used it for a song."

"An eleven year old genius mixing songs for his own band." James shook his head as he let out an incredulous laugh. "I'm jealous."

"Don't be." Sydney gave a half smile. "It's a blessing and a curse."

"I doubt it." Carlos leaned forward and grabbed a magazine that was sitting on the small table in front of him. It was one of the teenage magazines that girls ate up like candy, ones like _PopTiger, BopMe, _or _TeenZine. _He scanned the cover, looking at all of the faces that were on it, before opening it. "Have you guys noticed that we aren't in these magazines anymore?" Carlos asked, flipping through a couple of pages. "Like, at all." He turned to Dak."You're not in them either."

Dak shrugged.

"Are you surprised?" Sydney asked, lifting his head from his laptop. His eyes widened when he noticed that all of the guys had turned to him. "Sorry, I thought I was thinking that." He gave a sheepish smile. "I don't want to-"

"No, Syd, what were you saying?" James asked. He stretched out his legs in front of him, crossing his arms over his chest. "If anyone understands the music industry and everything that goes with it, it's you and your brothers and sisters; you've been in it for so long."

Sydney bit his bottom lip. They were asking him to explain, but he didn't want to hurt their feelings or discourage them either. They had worked so hard to get to where they were, but it was as clear as day, pop music wasn't as big as it used to be anymore, not many people liked it as much as they did when they first came out, and now they were starting to feel the back burn of it. _Oy why am I not smart enough to keep my mouth shut? _Sydney shook his head before he explained.

"Your popularity's going down," Sydney said slowly. "Ever since Dak moved onto musical theatre, he basically went into oblivion, so he's not the 'Teen Icon' anymore and hasn't been for a while…" he used air quotes around the words. "If anything, that went to Justin Bieber," he paused and looked over at Dak, shrugging. "No offense."

"None taken." Dak crossed his arms over his chest. "I guess it's a good thing; no more wacky stories and now people actually care about my work."

"But that brings up my point about you guys," Sydney said, turning to Kendall, Logan, Carlos, and James. "It's not about Big Time Rush anymore; it's about Bieber, Selena, Demi, Taylor, One Direction, Austin Mahone, and countless other people that I've never heard of before."

"That explains why no one cares about WayneWayne," Dak said, lightly teasing his best friend.

He and Sydney were the only ones who laughed at his joke. While WayneWayne, or Wally Dooley, was in their circle of friends now, Kendall still wasn't completely happy with it, while the other three were nice enough to him. Dak was WayneWayne's best friend, Sydney and his siblings were good friends with him, and Camille and WayneWayne were best friends, but the other guys, Kendall in particular, seemed to be the only ones that couldn't get over WayneWayne trying to take over their band, even if it was just because he was desperate for a job.

"So what about you guys?" Logan asked, frowning a little. "Where do you fall?"

Sydney shrugged again. "Sort of in a limbo," he said. "No many people care over here, everyone cares back home." He grimaced. "But then again, we're not in pop music or musical theatre…and a lot of people like rock music so…"

"Either way, we're getting screwed over and the quicker you acknowledge that, the quicker we can move on," Kendall said shortly. He shrugged when the others turned to look at him. "I mean, things didn't always go so well for us when we were on the All Over the World Tour, Griffin is making things twice as hard for us, and I'm getting sick and tired of being passed over for the recognition that we deserve."

"I wasn't saying _that _K-Dawg," Sydney said slowly. "I was just saying that in the music industry, popularity is very fickle." He narrowed his eyes as he studied Kendall. "What's wrong with you?" Kendall looked away from him. "Your body language indicates that something is-"

"I'm good." Kendall smiled as he turned back to his friends. "I mean our fans are what's important, so I shouldn't matter what anyone else does, right?"

"Right," Carlos and Logan agreed.

Kendall nodded silently, turning his attention to his phone when he got a text. He pulled it out of his pocket and looked it over, frowning when he realized that it was a number he didn't recognize. He opened the text and he sucked in a breath when he saw what the message read:

_We're getting closer_

Kendall closed his phone, letting out the breath that he had been holding. He was going to have to leave sooner than he thought. Now the only question was how….

* * *

**A/N: **This is my first story that has Sydney as a really big role, so I hope that you guys are excited for it, though it wasn't my best first chapter.

Anyway, we bring up real life things in our stories and I've noticed that no one ever references the fact that BTRs popularity (while they still are popular) has gone down over the past couple of years, basically since they got screwed over during BTMovie until now and I wanted to show that as well as the fact that people don't know who Curt is now that he has gone to mostly do musical theatre and very few TV roles (though I support him in anything he does) or they just bad mouth him after they see him in the original pilot of BTR. Then no one really knows or cares who Matt is/what he does (which is why I brought up the one line kind of dissing him in the chapter).

Typing it out may make me seem like a jerk, but like I said, no one brings those ideas up into fics and Rhu and I like to bring in real life events into our stories, so yeah. Also, if you're looking for a story of mine that does have OCs, I have one coming up called _Father Figure_ that's a request for someone that only has cannon characters, as well as a Katie centered story called _Big Brother, Baby Sister _coming up that only has cannon characters.

I have a question for you guys, if people know by now that we use our characters in most of our stories, should we continue to explain their back story with BTR up to whatever season its set in? Cause at this point I see it kind of tedious unless it's a quick explanation.

I hope that you guys enjoyed the chapter. I'll update again soon.

Cheers,

-Riles


	2. Rise and Fall

**.:Chapter Two:.**

* * *

Kendall rested his elbows against his knees as he waited in the lobby of Blazing Phoenix Records. He tried not to look at his watch; it would enhance his anxiety even further. He had gotten another text that morning, even more menacing than the one he had gotten before. He all ready had the feeling of wanting to jump out of his skin, but now he had feelings of running away and it was new to him. He _never _ran from any of his problems and now it seemed like the only choice. Just so everyone else was safe.

He smiled to himself. Now he understood why the Jackson always did the things they had done when they first met. They really didn't want him or his buds to get stuck in what they were going through and potentially get hurt.

Now here he was bringing the potential danger.

Was it ironic?

Yes.

Did he think it was funny?

Hell no.

It was the least funny thing to ever happen to him. Though…if everything as over and he was looking back on it, then he probably could have laughed. Or if someone told him this was going to happen, he wouldn't have believed it. But that was life, it threw curveballs left and right and you had to try and anticipate it so you knew what move to make next. Too bad Kendall was a hockey guy and curveballs were not his thing, backcheckings were.

He risked a glance at his watch before looking around the lobby again. He sat up when he spotted Sydney's, eldest sister, walking his way, along with an older man. She was carrying a folder and saying something to the man, pointing at it with her free hand. "Ri," Kendall called as soon as he spotted her.

Riley looked up from a folder in her hands and gave him a nod before turning back to the older man beside her. She said something to him, handed the folder to him and waved before turning and walking over to Kendall. "Hey, what are you doing here?" She asked.

"I just wanted to see you," Kendall said with a smile as he stood up, waiting for her to reach him. The two did their secret handshake before she leaned forward and gave him a hug. He shrugged and then turned his attention to her face, looking at her seriously. "Hey, uh, we got to talk later."

Riley's eyebrows lowered in concern. "About what?"

Kendall's eyes shifted." Things," He replied.

"Things?" Riley repeated. "You came all the way out here just to tell me you wanted to talk later about things?" She waved her hands. "_God forbid _I drop everything I need to do during the day to talk about…" she briefly placed her hands over her mouth as if she gasped and then lowered her hands to her chin. "Things."

Kendall couldn't help but chuckle. "Can you please be serious?"

"Was that not funny to you?" Riley tucked some of her hair behind her ears as she smiled sweetly. "Because it was hysterical to me." Kendall gave a half smile. Riley's eyebrows rose at his seriousness, she pulled her red strand of hair from her face. "If it's that important we can go to the crib later and talk about things."

"Great." Kendall started to walk back towards the front of the record company. "I'll let you get back to your work then."

"Wait." Riley reached out and grabbed the back of his shirt, halting him in his steps. "Why aren't you at Rocque Records and why do you have to tell me what's going on later rather than now?"

"Day off," Kendall said as he turned back to Riley. She gave him a skeptical look. "Ok, I just skipped. I know he's going to be pissed, but I just couldn't go. As to why I'm not telling you what's going on now…" he looked over his shoulder, out the glass doors, studying the street. He wondered how people could be walking past, laughing and smiling at each other without a care in the word, when all he felt like doing was puking.

He turned back to Riley. "Is because I can't." He moved to leave again, but Riley continued to hold onto his shirt.

"You're going to have to give me more than that," she said calmly.

Kendall opened his mouth to say something, but then stopped as his phone rang. _Please don't let this be them. _He hesitated for a long moment before pulling his phone from his pocket. A sigh of relief escaped his lips when he saw it was Jo calling him. Then he was a little bit confused; the two were on good terms and had gone back to being friends somewhat quickly after she returned from New Zealand when her movie tanked. She wanted to get back together with him, but at the time he was interested in Lucy. It took him a bit, but he realized he didn't want to be with either of them and turned them down. Lucy then left the PalmWoods, but Jo stayed and while she was upset, was understanding about the whole situation.

But things weren't exactly the same with them as they had been before; they were good friends, but their history got in the way of that and it made things awkward sometimes. _What could she possibly need?_

"Excuse me for a minute," Kendall said to Riley before answering the phone and walking away, around a corner. Riley crossed her arms over her chest, waiting for him to come back. She looked at her watch, her mind going a mile a minute. It was the first time there was something he _couldn't _tell her and that really unnerved her. Normally they could tell each other anything without it being awkward or worrying about the other repeating it to someone else.

And now…

Riley stopped when she could hear Kendall talking on the phone to someone. She waited a few moments and then hear Jo's name. Her curiosity got the better of her.

She and Rhuben were always naturally sneaky people, sitting on the landing and listening to conversations whenever someone came to the door, sitting in the bathroom and listening when Ronan was on the phone talking to someone. Hell, they and their brothers would admit they eavesdropped if they were outright asked. But they only did it for a good reason. If there was tension around, or if there was something Ronan wasn't telling them, they would try to figure it out to see if they could help. If they couldn't help, they dropped it and let things run its course until things were better.

If only she could hear what he was saying. Then she would know if—

She remembered something. The vents. Riley walked across the room to the vent that was against the back wall. She kicked off her shoes and squatted down, listening. His voice was barely audible. She could hear Kendall's voice, but couldn't make out the words. She needed to get closer, maybe then she could hear what he was saying.

She lowered herself to the floor, lying flat on her stomach, pressing her ear against the vent. There was a scratching sound. Kendall was saying something. She stilled.

"…that's what I thought." He spoke again, but Riley couldn't hear her. "What do you…" the rest of Kendall's words were muffled, like he'd turned away.

Then there was nothing but silence and it unnerved her. Heat prickled the back of her neck.

..

.

Kendall let out a heavy sigh as he hung up his cell phone. That call was bad timing, but at least he was able to get her off the line fast enough. He turned on his heel and went back to the lobby, he was about to call for Riley when he noticed something on the floor and stopped. Riley lay flat as a mat on the floor. Her head faced the wall, ear to the floor—or was that the vent? One hand clutched the hair at her nape, pulling her shirt up at the waist. Her black jeans hugged the curve of her butt, and the tops of her sock covered feet skimmed the floor.

_What the hell? Why would she be lying over the-unless…_His lips curved into a smile as the wonder of it washed over him, cool and refreshing. _Oh yeah. This is going to be good._ Kendall leaned against the doorframe, crossing his arms, biding his time.

Finally, when she didn't budge, he cleared his throat.

"Fuck!" Riley jumped up, hitting her head on the underside of the coffee table. She let out a cry as she turned, placing a hand on the back of her head, letting loose of her hair. The air must have kicked on because it blew her red strand across her face. She looked at him in surprise before wincing as pain moved across her face. "Ow. Son of a bitch." She whimpered.

"Be careful," Kendall remarked.

Riley glared at him, closing one eye shut, her hand still to her head. "You tell me that _after_ I bash my head in?" She winced again. "Do me a favor, Hockey-Head, and check the floor for the back of my head." She let out a soft groan.

"Looking for something?" Kendall almost felt sorry for her as she scrambled into a standing position. But then the look on her face was too comical, and the feeling her jealousy inspired, too heartening.

"I was just—"she looked around. "My earring," she pointed towards the vent. "I was getting my earring."

"Your ears may be pierced," Kendall said slowly. "But you don't wear earrings unless you're going to some sort of event." He tried not to laugh out loud. Who was she kidding? She'd been lying flat on the floor, her ear against the vent. She was caught. Nailed. Busted. But he was going to give her the benefit of the doubt, even though she started to blush. "Did it fall down the vent?'

Her cheeks, the area right under her eyes, bloomed a light pink. She started to stammer a response, but decided to scowl at him instead. "Shut up," she snapped. "You made your point." She placed her hands into the back pockets of her jeans and jutted out her right hip.

Kendall approached her, feeling sorry for her to know that she knew she was caught. Still, there was that whole jealousy thing that tugged the corner of his mouth. Riley blew her red strand of hair out of her face. "It's not that funny." She said as her lips started to twitch.

Kendall stopped walking and finally burst out laughing. Riley continued to look at him, her lips twitching into a full blown smile before she started to laugh as well. Then his laughter died down and he warily dropped into a seat, resting his face in his hands. Riley sat down on the coffee table across from him.

"Hey…" Riley placed a hand on his knee, squeezing it gently. "We may be dating or whatever, but you're my best friend first. Whatever you need help with, I'll help you, no questions asked."

Kendall nodded. It was a bit weird to him, when they first started dating (a couple of months before) they focused more on the friendship aspect of their relationship more than being in a relationship. That's not to say they didn't go on dates or just make out whenever they felt like it, but they were so close if anyone had seen them together, they would have thought they were just best friends with chemistry and nothing more. It was weird to others, but it was how they liked it.

"I hate it when you do that, you know," Kendall said, lifting his head. Riley gave him a confused look. "How you can be so patient with me…especially after everything I've put you through. But mostly I hate the way I don't hate you, not even close…not even a little bit…not even at all."

"Uh-oh, you're going all romantic on me," Riley lightly teased. She reached out and ran her fingers through his hair. "This must be really bothering you."

"You have no idea." Kendall rested his chin in his hands, his knee bobbing up and down. "I need to ask you a favor and I wouldn't ask if I didn't think you would help me. But I need to get out of LA and I need to get out fast."

Riley studied him for a long moment. She sighed and scratched her forehead, looking away from him. She thought about it for a long time, so long Kendall wasn't sure if she was even going to say anything. She sat up straight and looked him dead in the eye. "When are we leaving?"

"As soon as possible," Kendall said after a second. "But first, I have to talk to Gustavo and Kelly."

* * *

"So why couldn't we just leave before you needed to talk to Gustavo and Kelly?" Riley asked as she followed Kendall up the front steps of Gustavo's mansion. The only one left over after Gustavo had paid Griffin for ownership of the boys. Coincidentally, it was the same one the guys had trashed when they offered to mansion sit for him while he had gone off to North Carolina to potentially replace them.

"I don't know." Kendall shrugged. "Because I wanted to make things hard for myself?" He had a slight edge to his tone. "You don't make things easy for me at all, how is this different?"

"Because I make it endearing, it's part of my charm" Riley replied with a smile. her blue eyes flashing mischievously. She then raised an eyebrow. "Unlike when you do it, it makes you seem like a baby."

Despite the circumstances, Kendall gave a half smile. "How is it that you can make fun of me all you want, but you still manage to make me smile?"

"I don't know, really," Riley replied. "Probably the same reason that you can calm me down, I guess. But don't worry, Hockey-Head…" she reached out and patted him on the back. "I like you anyway." Her eyes narrowed as she turned towards the front door. Kendall followed her gaze and he frowned when he saw the door was all ready open a crack. He took a deep breath before pushing it open all the way and the two stepped inside.

The place was trashed; paintings were ripped off the walls, the grand piano had its top ripped off, keys were strewn all over the floor, the statue Carlos mistook for a helmet rack was on the floor, busted open. As the two continued to venture through the house, even more destruction greeted them. It looked like there had been some sort of a struggle, as if there had been a chase. Room by room, in a direct path, things were knocked over or broken.

Kendall could feel his heart thud against his rib cage, his eyes darted back and forth as he and Riley passed by a room, looking for Gustavo. He stopped and threw out his arm when he heard voices. One was a man's voice he didn't recognize and the other was Kelly's. They were muffled, but close enough he was sure it was her. _So where's Gustavo? _Kendall looked at Riley before he started to slowly walk towards the den, she followed close behind him. He stopped, just out of the entrance and let out a light gasp.

Gustavo was lying on the floor, moaning quietly. His glasses were knocked off his face and he had a bloody gash on the side of his head, but he didn't look too injured. But Kelly was on her back on the floor, her hands by her face. Standing above her was a man, pointing a gun directly at her.

"I said where is he?" The man demanded.

"I don't know!" Kelly cried, turning her face away. "I don't know where he is. We're supposed to be at the studio today, maybe he's there!"

"We've all ready been to the studio!" The guy snapped. "All we found were his best friends and they were of no help!"

Kendall's heart dropped. Had they hurt James, Logan, and Carlos? What happened to them? He closed his eyes, turning his head away. He should have gone to Rocque Records, that way he could have done something if the guys had showed up then. Maybe he could have turned himself in; he didn't know what was going to happen if he continued to run away. Maybe he should reveal himself then?

But would it help?

"You!"

Kendall opened his eyes and looked up to see the man had noticed him in the doorway. He turned back to Kelly and pistol-whipped her, the blow on her head knocking her out. He then turned and raised the gun, leveling it towards Kendall's heart. "Any sudden movements and you're dead!" He said. Kendall slowly moved away from the wall he was hiding behind, holding his hands up. "Do you know what kind of trouble we got into looking for you?"

Kendall swallowed thickly. He was shaking all over. "I don't think I could guess," he stammered.

The man managed an evil smile as he continued to walk towards Kendall. "Lie down on your stomach." Kendall continued to watch the man, frozen. "GET ON THE GROUND!" All of a sudden, something went flying across the room and hit the man on the back of his head.

Kendall ducked to the side, shielding his face with his hands as the sound of glass shattering reached his ears. The man let out a cry and stumbled forward, holding a hand to the back of his head. Kendall looking up to see that Riley was behind the guy, having moved from behind him and moved through the other connected rooms. As the man turned back towards her, Kendall rushed forward and tackled him, wrapping his arms around the man's waist, bringing him to the ground. He then rolled the man over and started to punch him in the face.

The gun went flying from the man's hands as he tried to reach up and grab Kendall, to knock him off. But Kendall continued to punch the man in the face and the chest until his movements slowed. Slowly standing up, Kendall took a couple of deep breaths before walking over to the fireplace and grabbing a fire poker. He walked back over to the man and held it by his face. The man looked up at Kendall defiantly.

"Who are you?" Kendall asked in a low tone. His lower lip was quivering as he looked over at Gustavo and Kelly. He turned back to the man, lightly raising the poker. "Answer me!"

"Kendall, stop," the man said, breathing heavily. He wiped blood off of his face with one hand, using his other arm as a shield. "I'll tell you everything you need to know." He took a deep breath and swallowed thickly. "But I'm not dying here." Kendall lifted his gaze and exchanged a confused look with Riley. "There's a bomb in the oven."

Kendall looked down at the man for a moment before dropping the poker and racing off towards the kitchen on the other side of the house. As he slowed down to give himself enough space to open the over door, Riley crashed into his back, sending him forward. The two grabbed onto the oven door and pulled it open.

Sitting on the shelf was a bomb with a timer counting down from eight seconds.

Seven…

Six…

Kendall and Riley raced to the glass door which led from the kitchen to the backyard and ripped it open as fast as they could, charging out of the house.

Behind them, the bomb exploded, the force of the explosion sending them into the pool…

* * *

**A/N: **Those that asked last time, yes, the beginning of the last chapter was from _Ready to Roll_, but I deleted the story a while ago. I liked the opening scene and though it would be good to use here. I don't know why, but I really enjoy writing Kiley's banter (friendship or romantic) more than anything else. ;)

Starting with the next chapter, it'll be split between what happens with Kendall and what happens with Sydney. And the action starts now and other characters will come in starting the next chapter, I'll update again soon.

Cheers,

-Riles


	3. Live to Regret

**.:Chapter Three:.**

* * *

Jo Taylor frowned down at her phone. Her school books were spread out around her and she had a couple of bowls of food set up…but no one to share it with. She then looked at her watch before tapping her foot. "There's no way he could have forgotten," she said to herself, resting her chin in her hand. "He hasn't forgotten before."

Jo jumped at the sound of her apartment door crashing open and turned, with wide eyes, over to her boyfriend, who was standing in the doorway, breathing heavily. "James, what's wrong?" She asked him. "Did you run here?"

James held up a hand, signaling he needed some time to catch his breath.

"Hey, have you seen Kendall?" Jo continued. "He said that he was going to come by and he never showed." She pointed over her shoulder. "I've been calling his phone, but he hasn't been picking up and I don't have any idea where-"

James lifted his head and looked at his girlfriend strangely. "What do you mean he was supposed to come by?" He asked with a slight edge to his tone. Jo's mouth dropped open and she looked away from James.

That was a bit of a touchy spot in their relationship. Everything that James wanted, Kendall got first; he was the one that wanted to be famous, Gustavo wanted Kendall, he wanted to go after Jo and didn't get a chance when he got allergies, and Kendall ended up getting her, he wanted Lucy, and Kendall got her too. If it wasn't for the fact that Kendall picked neither Jo nor Lucy and if James hadn't agreed to help Jo get Kendall back, which caused him and Jo to start going out, James wasn't sure if he and Jo would be together at that moment.

"That's not what I meant," she said after a second.

"I'm not stupid, Jo," James said. He then closed his eyes and shook his head. "Look,it's not important right now. We have to get to the hospital, something happened with Gustavo and Kelly and they're hurt. Everyone else is going, we have to go now."

"Oh my god!" Jo turned and grabbed her phone off of the table before grabbing her shoes and slipping them on. "Has anyone told you anything?"

"No, they didn't show up at the studio neither did Kendall, and Mama Knight just called us and…" James grabbed onto Jo's arm and pulled her out of her apartment. "I don't have time to explain, let's go!"

* * *

Kendall's breath was forced out of his lungs as he felt himself go flying through the air. There was an intense heat on his back seconds before he crashed into the cold water of Gustavo's pool. Sputtering and coughing, he kicked back up to the surface, pushing his hair away from his face. He backed up against the side of the pool as debris rained down around them, falling into the water and on the grass around them. He turned to Riley, who was clutching the edge of the pool with one hand, and her shoulder with the other.

"You ok?" he asked breathlessly.

"Cut up my shoulder," Riley replied. "But I'll live."

At those words, the two of them instinctively turned towards the house to see what was left of it. Kendall let out a sigh of relief when he saw the house was still pretty much intact. It was so big and the bomb was so small it only blew up the left side of the house, the right was still standing. Thankfully Gustavo had gotten a mansion that was so big. He and Kelly were on the right side of the house so they were safe, but if they didn't move soon, they could potentially get caught up by the fire and smoke.

"We have to help them," Kendall said, pulling himself out of the pool. "Call the police." He turned around and grabbed onto Riley's hand, pulling her out.

"How?" Riley asked. "If your phone is in your pocket, it's fried! And…I don't think his neighbors could have missed the explosion." She was proven right as they could hear sirens in the distance. "Plus, if that guy is still around, we need to get out of here before he comes back."

"We need to get you to a hospital," Kendall insisted.

"I told you, I'm fine." Riley paused, seeming to reconsider it. "But if these people are after you, the last place they'll try to get you is at a hospital with so many people around. So, yeah, let's go."

"But…" Kendall looked at her warily as she started to walk around the pool, being careful to step over pieces of the house that were still on fire. "I thought you don't like hospitals."

"I don't, but I'd rather be there than a police station and trying to explain what's happening when you won't even tell me why!" Riley snapped, turning back around. Her face then softened as Kendall walked over to join her. "It can't be easy for you, knowing what's going on and not knowing how to stop it."

"You have no idea," Kendall replied. He stiffened when he heard the sirens coming closer. "Your car or mine?"

"Mine," Riley said. "If your car is at the hospital and these people are really following you, I don't want to risk the hospital getting blown up, too."

"Ok, hold on." Kendall stopped walking, crouched over, and threw up.

* * *

"Anything else?" Sydney Jackson-McGuire asked, looking through his stuffed backpack once more. He lifted his head and looked at the front seat where Rhuben, Riley's twin sister, was driving her car, racing to get to the hospital. The windows of the car were rolled down, covering the sound of the news being played over the radio. In the passenger seat, Patrick was leaning forward, his ear pressed against the speaker.

"No, still says it was a gas leak," Patrick said as he leaned back. "Are you sure you know what you're doing, Syd?"

"Of course I'm sure," Sydney said, a little arrogantly. "Kendall's been acting weird for a while and if he's _this_ jumpy and then this happens with Gustvao's house." He shook his head. "I don't know what's going on exactly, but it has something endangering Kendall's life and if we know him like we think we do, he's going to try and get out of here so no one else gets stuck in the cross fire."

"And of course, we find some way to get dragged into it," Noah, Patrick's twin said, with a half smile.

"Of course," Sydney said. He smirked. "Don't you know us by now?" He looked at his watch. "Ok, the way I see it, Ronan and them won't be at the hospital for another twenty minutes or so, due to traffic." He reached out his hands and placed them on the car window as Rhuben made a sharp turn, pulling into the parking lot of the hospital. "So it gives me enough time to get to Kendall and Ri-Ri and warn them before anything happens." He zipped up his backpack and held it against his chest. "I'm going to need you to stall the staff."

"No problem," Rhuben agreed, stopping the car. "So what are we going to tell Ronan, Mama Knight, and them."

"Everything," Sydney replied. "But not until Kendall is long gone."

The Jacksons climbed out of the car and walked into the hospital as casually as they could. On the TV screens in the waiting area was footage of Gustavo's house, partially burned and blown up. As the camera panned over the house, they could see the Big Time Rush mobile in front of Gustavo's house as well as debris blown halfway across the street. Sydney slowed as he watched the images go by on the TV screen.

His eyes narrowed. _I thought there was someone else in the house…a neighbor said he heard a threatening voice, _he thought when he watched the footage of Gustavo and Kelly being taken out by stretchers. They seemed ok.

"Syd!"

Sydney hurried up to the receptionist desk with his brothers and sister. He looked at the receptionist , watching her as she answered Patrick's questions.

"Your sister is being seen by the doctor right now," she said. "You can go see her in a couple of minutes."

Sydney slowly stood up on his tip-toes and angled himself to the side so he could see her computer screen, but just enough so if the receptionist looked at him directly, he would be trying to look over the edge of the desk. _Good thing I haven't hit my growth spurt yet._

Noah lightly poked Sydney in the side. Sydney turned his big blue eyes up towards his older brother and Noah waved a hand, flashing one finger, then four. Sydney nodded and hunched over, pretending to tie his shoe before shuffling away from the recptionist's desk and walking as fast as he could to room 104. He grabbed the doorknob and looked both ways before pushing the door open. He breathed a sigh of relief when he spotted his eldest sister sitting on a bed, getting her arm bandaged by a doctor, and Kendall leaning against a wall, his eyes closed.

Sydney noticed the doctor looked like he was getting ready to leave and let go of the door, backing up and pressing his back against the wall. The door opened and the doctor walked out, he was too engrossed in the clipboard was in his hands that he didn't see Sydney standing directly next to the door. _Idiot. _ Sydney let out a sigh of relief and pushed the door opened again.

Kendall was standing up straight, though still leaning against the wall and Riley was pulling on her leather jacket back over her cami top. Her shoulder was bandaged but otherwise she looked ok. "Any news on Gustavo and Kelly?" Kendall asked his face pale and etched with worry. "They came here, right?"

"From what the doctor says, they got bruises and scrapes," Riley said, pulling her hair free from the collar of her jacket. "And might have a concussion from the force of the hits, but otherwise, they'll be fine."

Kendall nodded. He ran his hands over his face before he started to pace back and forth. "Kendall?" Kendall turned when he heard Sydney say his name. Sydney pushed his way into the room, closing the door behind him. He noticed the curious expression on Kendall's face because he answered a unasked question as he went to hug his sister. "You'd be surprised at how easy it is for a kid my size to wander around a hospital before someone else notices I'm gone."

"Where are the others?" Riley asked her brother, speaking of her twin sister, Rhuben, and twin brothers Patrick and Noah.

"Receptionist area, they're stalling while I came to talk to you guys," Sydney said quickly. "And I don't have much time. The news is reporting that Gustavo's place had a gas leak, but that's not true, is it? There was a bomb?" he guessed.

Kendall's eyebrows lowered as he stood up straight. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end. "How'd you know that?" He asked in a low voice.

Sydney snorted. "You think a gas leak would only blow up a portion of a house?" He looked offended. "Give me a bit more credit than that, I'm eleven years old, not blind. Now…" he held up a finger. "A bomb, depending on the wiring, could be fault and not blow with the full capacity of power it was intended for."

"You're not a genius for nothing," Riley said fondly. "Where are the others?"

"On their way here," Sydney said quickly. "But you have to get out before they do." He turned to Kendall. "You and the others in the same place isn't just dangerous for you, it's dangerous for everyone. You plan was to get out of LA? Well, that's how we're going to help you."

Kendall's gaze moved over to the backpack on Sydney's back. "How do you plan on doing that? This place is crawling with people who will wonder why she's suddenly gone." He pointed over to Riley, who had gotten off of the bed and was stretching her arm, wincing ever so often as her shoulder rotated. "Besides, if the police were called-"

"You didn't call them did you?" Sydney asked, his eyes widening.

Kendall shook his head. "Didn't get the chance."

"Good." Sydney's shoulders slumped in relief. "From our experience the police aren't very helpful."

"You got that right," Riley remarked, lightly resting her hands on her baby brother's head. They exchanged a fond smile.

"But at the same time, you can't be sure if there's a bug on your phone, tracing everything you're saying or doing," Sydney said.

Kendall's face paled even further and he let out a curse, turning to kick at the wall. The force of the kick caused his foot to immediately start throbbing, but he ignored it. All of those text messages, the calls, and the way the people knew where he was…it was because of his cell phone. Maybe even the phone back at the crib, it had to have been bugged. Or had a tracking system put on it somehow, there was no other way they could have known everything he was doing or every place he was going.

Sydney waited for Kendall to calm down before he started to root through his backpack. "Anyway, we've got a way for you to get out. But I have some stuff for you."

"Gadgets?" Riley asked with a smirk and a light laugh.

"Something like that," Sydney agreed, laughing too. He pulled out two in-ears, though one had a mic attached to it. The one with the Spider-Man stickers he handed to Kendall and the one with the mic and the flame stickers he handed to Riley.

"My head mic?" Riley asked.

"Yeah, what are my in-ears for?" Kendall asked, looking them over. "I thought they only worked if they were attached to a mic pack when we're on stage." He looked over at Riley who shrugged and folded up her in-ears, sticking them in her pocket. She had a serious look on her face.

"They did before I modified them." Sydney gave a modest shrug. "I just changed the frequency of some things, no big deal. That's so when you get out, we can still keep in contact."

"How far are we going?" Kendall asked. His stomach dropped even further as each second passed. The gravity of the situation was starting to dawn on him. He was really leaving LA, leaving all of his friends and family behind and running off to figure out how and why these people were chasing him. He had a slight idea why, but not the whole story. Subconsciously, Kendall's hand moved towards the gun tucked in the back of his jeans. _I hope I don't need this anytime soon._

"Think of a place with a lot of people, where you can blend in really easily." Dimples appeared in Sydney's cheeks as he crossed his arms over his chest.

"Vegas?" Riley guessed.

"Vegas," Sydney confirmed.

Kendall's eyes widened. He let out a shaky breath. There was a sudden knock at the door and Sydney started to move faster. He handed Kendall a jacket and Riley two flat objects, one being her passport, visa, and green card, the other being an envelope.

"You'll need ID, I'm not sure which one so take them all," Sydney explained breathlessly. "And don't open theenvelope until I or Rhu, Patrick, and Noah say. They know what I've told them and they're going to be helping me, too." There was another knock on the door and he moved towards it. "You guys have to go now."

"Now?!" Kendall cried. "But, I have to talk to my mom and Katie!"

"No time," Sydney insisted.

"What about the guys?" Kendall was starting to panic. Things were just happening too quickly. One moment, he was part of a boy band, the next his producer and his assistant were being attacked and their house was blown up. Now he had to get out of town and couldn't say goodbye to his family? "Are they ok?"

"They're fine!" Sydney grabbed onto the doorknob and pulled open the door. Kendall was confused when a pile of Mylar and latex balloons entered the room. But then the balloons lifted and a kind looking man was looking at Kendall and Riley with a grim smile.

"Dr. Angelo?" Riley immediately recognized hers and her brothers and sisters' therapist.

"Yeah, it's me," Dr. Angelo said with a nod. "And to make things quicker, just call me Trevor." He gave Riley a smile, which she returned with a smirk. "Though this will be the only time you can, back in session, is Dr. Angelo or Angel if you prefer."

"You know I always preferred Angel," Riley said.

Dr. Angelo looked over his shoulder before waving a hand at them. "We don't have much time." He nodded over to Kendall. "Put that on; make sure it covers your face." Kendall pulled on the jacket and turned around, grabbing his beanie from the window sill. He slid it on before pulling up the hood on his jacket, Riley doing the same with her leather jacket. "Walk behind me." He looked out the door and into the hallway. "Let's go."

Sydney held out a hand and quickly gave Kendall a fist bump before turning to Riley and opening his arms for another hug. Riley gave him a kiss on the forehead and then kneeled down, wrapping her arms around him tightly. Sydney hugged his eldest sister back before letting go and watching her, Kendall, and r. Angelo leave the room.

"Did you do it?" Rhuben asked, coming into the room a few moments later.

"Yep," Sydney turned back to Rhuben and gave a heavy sigh, tightening his grip on his backpack straps. His hands were shaking. "Got it."

* * *

"C'mon, c'mon, go fast!" Dr. Angelo said, moving at almost a running pace, leading the two teenagers out of the hospital and into the car parking garage. He led them over to his car before letting go of the balloons and getting into the driver's seat. Kendall and Riley got into the car and he turned it on before peeling out of his spot, the screeching echoing in the car park.

As he started to drive out of the garage, another car quickly pulled out behind them, going close to the same speed. Dr. Angelo briefly looked in the rearview mirror before they blasted out of the parking garage and onto the streets of LA.

"So did you work as a spy and we didn't know about it?" Riley asked Dr. Angelo. "Sort of like, gone into the witness protection program and start working with kids who were abused?"

"Not anything that exciting," Dr. Angelo said with a smile. "I just got an offer I couldn't refuse. And when I heard you were stuck in all of this, you and your brothers and sister, I knew I had to help anyway I could." He paused. "And at the most, I was a volunteer firefighter."

Dr. Angelo weaved in and out of traffic as the car behind them continued to follow closely. Kendall twisted around in the passenger seat and he looked out the back window. Squinting his eyes against the headlight of the car behind him, he managed to who was chasing them. It was the same one who was in Gustavo's house, the one who tortured Gustavo and Kelly and threatened Kendall.

_How the hell did he managed to survive? _Kendall turned back in his seat, breathing heavily. His thoughts were racing a mile a minute; his heart was beating against his chest so hard he felt sick. _These guys are really serious. I should have left sooner._

"Here." Dr. Angelo handed Kendall a set of keys. "4311 Clarington Blvd. Apartment 2, Boston, Massachusetts. Memorize the address if you can. Only go there once you figure out everything you need to know in Vegas. Then sit tight until someone contacts you."

"Who would we be waiting for?" Kendall looked out the back window again, the car was getting even closer.

"Can't say, not now, I don't know if people are still listening to your every word," Dr. Angelo said through gritted teeth. He let out a ragged breath. "Give me your phones." He took one hand off of the wheel, increased his speed at the same time. Kendall and Riley handed over their dead phones. Kendall hesitated for a moment before taking out his SIM and memory cards before handing it over. He then stuck the two objects in his pocket.

"What now?" Kendall looked at Dr. Angelo. Even in the light of the streetlights that flashed by, he could see the look of determination on the man's face.

"When you get the chance, dump those clothes," Dr. Angelo instructed. He leaned forward in his seat and then leaned back, tightening his grip on the steering wheel. "In less than twenty seconds, we're going to hit a soft curb just before the bridge," he said. "I'm going to slow down just enough for you to jump out."

"Wait, what?" Kendall's hands immediately clenched onto his arms rests.

"Jump?" Riley repeated, her voice holding a sound of nervousness. It was the first time in a long time he noticed how anxious and nervous she was. It comforted him, knowing he wasn't the only one who was scared about what was going on and what was going to happen in the future..

"There will be enough cover," Dr. Angelo continued as if the teenagers didn't say anything. "It's thirty feet down to the river bed. And remember from now on, you can't trust _anybody_ except your family and friends. You have ten seconds to open that door, after that I'll create a diversion."

The car continued to drive at a top speed. When it reached the soft shoulder, Dr. Angelo slammed on the brakes. Kendall and Riley took the chance to throw open the car doors and jump.

They landed hard on the ground, the force of jumping from a moving car launching them into the bushes and down a steep hill…

* * *

_To Codex_: Yes, the ending part was off of the movie Abduction. As will other scenes. That's what it means when someone says that a fic is based on/inspired by something, there will be parts from that movie or book in the story, though changed slightly.

**A/N: **Ok, just so everyone knows, this isn't a romance story at all. Meaning it's not centered on Kiley or anyone else's relationships at all (though there is a bit of drama with one) it's more about/centered on Kendall and Sydney (as well as my characters, though to a lesser degree). Just so that's clear.

If I confused anyone, the guy that was in Gustavo's house told Kelly that he had to hurt James, Logan, and Carlos to try and get info out of her, but he really didn't hurt them or meet up with them at all. Sorry there were a lot of scene jumps in this chapter. As a reminder, this story is a work of fiction, so some of what'll happen in this story may not be believable in real life. But that's what makes this story so much fun to write.

I hope you liked it.

Cheers,

-Riles


	4. Rewind

**.:Chapter Four:.**

* * *

"How come we can't see them yet?" Carlos asked for the twentieth time. He slid down in his seat and stretched his legs out in front of him as he tilted his head back, looking up at the ceiling of the hospital. "It's been ages."

"The doctors need to take their time," Logan said slowly. "Plus…" he let out a sigh, running a hand through his hair. "They're probably going to be questioned by the police soon, so they can figure out what happened."

He looked down when he felt Camille grab onto his hand and hold it tightly. It was comforting, but it didn't help him at the same time. Two of the people that he would call some of his closest friends had tried to be murdered and he didn't know why. He didn't even know if he was going to be next or if one of their other friends was going to be a target. He sighed and looked down the hall again watching as police officers talked to each other in hushed tones, stern looks on their faces. The TVs were continuing to show images of Gustavo's house. That just made Logan even more anxious, the ScuttButts and the calls and texts were already starting to come in and he knew that things were going to get even worse now that the fans heard about everything.

He let go of his girlfriend's hand and ran his hands over his face warily. Carlos continued to sulk and James sat still, his arms resting on his knees, hunched over, his head bowed forward. Jo was leaning against his side, gently rubbing his arm, and Stephanie was sitting at Carlos's side, trying to make him smile. He looked around the hospital. Patients were waiting for their chance to be seen, and he was trying his best not to look at them. He had wanted to be a doctor before they came out to LA and now he wasn't sure it was what he wanted anymore. Not if he had to wonder whether or not he was going to be operating on one of his close friends or family. The idea used to give him chills, thinking that at one point he was going to have to save someone's life, and now two of them had already been threatened.

He watched as Mrs. Knight and Ronan talked to some police officers, trying to get some news out of them. His eyes scanned the area and he frowned when he realized that he didn't see Kendall, Katie, or the Jacksons anywhere.

"Hey…" Logan turned back to the others. "Where is everyone?"

"Dak and WayneWayne should be here any minute," Stephanie said. "I think Katie said that she was going to the vending machine." She then shrugged. "I haven't seen Kendall or the Jacksons since we've gotten here. She then sat up and looked behind Logan's shoulder. "Speak of the devil." She said calmly.

Logan whipped around and let out a sigh of relief when he spotted Rhuben, Patrick, Noah, Sydney, and Katie walking their way. His shoulders slumped and his face visibly relaxed.

"Logan, everyone's fine, don't worry," Stephanie said gently.

Logan ignored her as he grabbed Katie's arm. "Have you seen Kendall?" He asked her.

Katie shook her head. For the first time in his life, Logan saw that she was scared and on the verge of tears. He wasn't sure if it was because Gustavo and Kelly got hurt, or if it was because Kendall wasn't there to comfort and protect her, like he usually was. If he had a million dollars, he would have bet on the latter.

"No, I haven't seen him all day." Katie shook her head. "Are Gustavo and Kelly going to be ok?"

"They're going to be fine, Katie, don't worry." Patrick placed a hand on her shoulder and squeezed it gently. He then sucked in a sharp breath as he turned back to the others. "As for Kendall…" he looked over at Sydney, who spoke up.

"I'm just going to cut to the chase here," Sydney said. He took a breath. "Kendall is in some sort of trouble, but he won't tell us what it is. Riley got wrapped up in it and that's why she's not here. And now that I'm telling you all, you're in on it too." He thought for a moment. "The trouble was bad enough that Gustavo and Kelly got hurt."

"What?" Carlos sat up straight. James got to his feet. Camille, Jo, and Stephanie stared at Sydney with wide eyes. "Are you serious?"

"Dead serious." Sydney nodded. "So, at this moment they're heading out of state because it would be too dangerous for them to stay here. But like I said, I can't say more than that. What all of us can do to help, though, is to cooperate when the police asks you questions, and to try not to panic."

"Try not to panic?" Katie gave a snort. "My brother's life is in danger and you're telling me not to panic?" She threw her hands into the air. "Any second he could probably have a gun shoved in his face and you want me not to panic?" She glared.

"Katie." Logan grabbed onto Katie's arms and turned her to him. "I'm as worried as you are…"

That was an understatement. Logan was scared and angry. He was scared about what one of his best friends was going through, but he was angry that he couldn't talk to him, James, Carlos, or even his mother to try and get help with whatever problem he was having. Now innocent people were getting hurt and everyone else was being thrown into it as well. But he was trying to stay as positive as possible. _That's what Kendall would have wanted_, he reasoned. _For one of us to step up into his place and try to keep everyone calm. _

Logan swallowed thickly. "But you have to think of it this way, if Kendall left, it was probably to keep the rest of us safe. If he's being chased by someone, they're only going after him. So we have to help him as much as we can, from here, and hope that he's doing the right thing."

Katie nodded as tears started to fall down her cheeks. She turned to James and wrapped her arms around his waist, burying her face into his chest/stomach. James put his arms around her shoulders and gently patted her back.

"So what's going to happen now?" Carlos asked in a small voice. "What o we tell Mama Knight and Gustavo and Kelly?" He looked over at Mrs. Knight, who was still talking to a police officer.

"Everything," Sydney said. "We need to tell them everything we know, because it'd be worse if we didn't." He rubbed his nose. "But for the rest of tonight, we can't worry about them, because they're probably one their way out of the state by now. All we can do is appease our fans and tell them that everything is ok, hear what happened from Gustavo and Kelly, and pray to god that all of this gets solved soon."

Sydney moved and sat down on a chair, letting out a heavy sigh. Eleven years old and he had to deal with something this big. He knew that being a certified genius was going to come in handy at some point, but with something like this? He didn't expect that in the slightest. He looked at his watch before looking at his phone. _Maybe I should have told them to stick around LA tonight, there'd be too many people looking for them at the airports. _He swallowed thickly. _I hope I'm doing the right thing._

* * *

"Ok, we can stop." Kendall put his hands on his hips as he slowed to a walk, breathing heavily.

He could hear Riley's footsteps slow to a walk behind him. He took a couple of deep breaths, trying to slow his breathing. His heart was thudding against his chest and the weight of everything was starting to take a toll on him. His hands were shaking rapidly. He shoved them into his jeans pockets so Riley wouldn't see.

The two had been running along the edge of the river for twenty minutes, and only slowed down when they were absolutely sure that they weren't being followed anymore. Shortly after Dr. Angelo has forced the two to jump from the car, they heard shouts and squealing tires. And that was only moments before searchlights were shinning in the woods around them and helicopters were flying overhead. If it weren't for the dark clothes that they were wearing, Kendall was sure they would have been caught at that point.

Tears started to run down Kendall's face silently. Not a whole waterfall, but two tears, one out of the corner of each eye. He took another step forward and dropped down to the ground, resting his legs. The thought of Kelly, Gustavo, and the explosion entered his head again. "Oh my God." Kendall put his hands over his face, repeating the words over and over again. "Oh my God oh my God oh my God."

"Relax," Riley said, looking down at him. She bent down and pressed a hand to his neck, a concerned frown coming onto her face. "If you don't calm down you're going to pass out."

"No, I…" Kendall paused, taking another deep breath in and realizing that he was starting to get lightheaded. "Ok, maybe you're right."

"I know I'm right," Riley said, standing up again. "I didn't used to want to be a doctor for nothing." She pulled her phone out of her pocket and started to fiddle with it. Her frown deepened when she saw that she didn't have any bars.

"Used to?" Kendall asked, slowly calming down.

He knew how she wanted to be able to help people, especially those that went through the same thing that she and her siblings did. It was part of her nature; she had a maternal/protective side that she showed a lot when it came to her siblings or even her friends. He couldn't begin to count the number of times he had been reprimanded by her for something stupid that he, James, Carlos, and Logan had done and felt like it was his own mother that was yelling at him.

"I don't know what I want to be," Riley said slowly. "A doctor, a guidance counselor, a therapist. A tattoo artist, be a musician for the rest of my life. I don't know." She turned to him, holding up her phone. "And at this point, that doesn't really matter." She turned her phone in her hand. "Now smile."

"What?" Kendall lifted his head, only to be blinded twice by the flash from her phone.

"Isn't that amazing?" Riley said looking at the picture she'd just taken. "No red eye." She put her phone into her pocket. She let out a sigh, noticing the weary look on his face. "I know this isn't easy for you. Sorry, Hockey-Head, I'm just trying to make you laugh."

"That's alright; I just don't feel like laughing." Kendall got to his feet and brushed off the seat of his pants. He pulled himself together. He hated the way that he was acting; he needed to be strong for everyone back home. He wasn't going to allow them to get hurt. He started to walk into the woods once more, suddenly noticing how dark it was.

"So what are we going to do now?" Riley asked as she came up next to him. "We have to find a way to get to Vegas. Though it shouldn't be that hard to-"

"I'm going to get you home." Kendall said. Riley stopped walking and he turned back to her. "I shouldn't have asked you to come with me," he said quickly, noticing her frustration. "It's too dangerous. You're not safe here."

Riley gave an obnoxiously loud laugh, causing Kendall to glare. "You don't know the meaning of the word dangerous." She then gestured up the river. "Newsflash, boofhead, I wouldn't be safe there!" Riley snapped. "Not after I saw what I saw. I'm not safe here either! We're not safe anywhere!"

"Look!" Kendall was starting to get angry himself. "What those people want…they're after me. Not you. So if you leave, they'll leave you alone."

Riley sneered. "Are you really stupid enough to believe that? Dammit, Kendall! I don't think you get that right now, we have no one that we can trust except for each other and our friends and we can't get our friends hurt like that!" Kendall started to open his mouth. "Hey!" Riley said firmly. She grabbed onto the front of his shirt and pulled him towards her, her eyes flashing. "Not leaving. Not now. Got it?"

"Got it." Kendall nodded.

He couldn't help but smile a little. Part of him knew that it was a good idea to get her home, out of harm's way. But a bigger part of him already knew that it wasn't an option, as soon as she had agreed to help him out, before knowing what was going on, he knew she was going to be there until the end and he was grateful for it. "Come on."

The two continued to walk until the river bed turned away from them. They climbed up a fairly steep hill until they were back on the main road. Cars whizzed by them, their headlights shining brightly as they went. Kendall tilted his head back and looked up at the sky. It was dark, and the lights of LA made it hard for him to see the stars. He briefly wondered if they were still up there. The full moon shone down on him, causing a sense of panic to fill his chest.

_The police are going to see us if we don't get moving soon. _Kendall started to wave his hands, trying to flag down a taxi. But each time one would come by, it would continue to drive past him. Frustrated, he then started to walk along the road, holding his thumb out.

"Hitch hiking won't work, Kendall," Riley said. Kendall winced when he heard her use his name. That meant that she was still mad at him, as she usually never called him by her name, opting to use one of her many nicknames for him, and only called him Kendall when she was serious about something or mad. "I don't know about you, but these people have probably seen too many scary movies."

Kendall dropped his arm and turned back to her. She had her arms crossed tightly over her chest, shivering a little. "So why don't you just roll up your pants leg and stick your leg out?" He suggested, shrugging. "That works in cartoons and movies."

"Notice we're in real life, Hockey-Head," Riley said, glaring at him. "That sexist stuff never works. All you have to do is know how to use your voice."

"You definitely know how to use yours," Kendall cracked. He smirked and Riley gave a small smile.

"Haha." She stepped up to the side of the road and waited for a taxi. When she saw one, she stuck her fingers in her mouth and whistled loudly. "Hey! Taxi!" The taxi screeched to a stop and she and Kendall walked over to it.

"We need you to take us to the airport!" Kendall said. "LAX." He noticed that the driver was looking at them funny, noticing the dirt stains and scratches that they had gotten from running through the words. Kendall gave the man a disarming smile and the driver nodded. "Thanks." Kendall opened the door and climbed into the backseat, Riley sliding in after him.

Once they were on the road, Kendall leaned over to Riley and whispered to her, hoping the taxi driver couldn't hear them. "We need to figure out what we're going to do when we get to the airport. Everyone is probably looking for us right now."

"That's why we have to stop at the store first," Riley whispered back, leaning back against the seat. "And…fake IDs."

Kendall nodded silently as the taxi driver merged lanes and started to pick up speed. He let out a slow breath as they headed towards the airport. Kendall looked out the rearview mirror, swallowing thickly as their home was being left behind.

There was no turning back now…

* * *

**A/N: **Things really pick up from here and you'll see more of everyone else as the story goes on and the chapters do get longer, starting with the next one. I hope you liked it.

Cheers,

-Riles


	5. Better Angels

**.:Chapter Five:.**

* * *

Sydney let out a snorting sound as he woke up. He pushed himself into a sitting position and rubbed his burning eyes. He looked around tiredly, confused as to why his face was hurting. He reached a hand up to his cheek and noticed that he had fallen asleep on his laptop and the keyboard had made imprints in his face. He ran his hands over his face and bloodshot eyes before turning his attention back to his laptop. He dragged his finger over the touchpad and it came back to life. Numerous windows stared back at him. He blinked at them for a moment before he refocused.

He clicked to the right and an e-mail account was staring him in the face. Kendall's e-mail account to be exact. When Sydney had correctly hacked into Kendall's e-mail on the first try, he rolled his eyes at the ease of getting in. "You really need to learn how to spell your password," he had muttered to himself.

Now he looked over the e-mails once more, trying to figure out if there were any clues hidden in there. Anyone could miss something so simple in a set of e-mails, but he wasn't going to allow himself to do that. Kendall was like a big brother to him, though he already had three of them, and didn't want anything to happen to him as much as any of his other friends. It was times like these that he was glad that he was the youngest, no one would think that an eleven year old boy as smart as him could get as much done as he could.

Sydney yawned as he looked over the e-mails again. There were some from him, talking about guitars, some from Riley, and others from people back in Minnesota…nothing really out of the ordinary. He was looking over the time stamps on some of the e-mails when something caught his attention…a few of them didn't have an IP address. Sydney's eyebrows lowered as he looked into the e-mails again.

_Either way, say 'hi' to your father for me, I hadn't seen him in a while._

_-I'll be sure to pass on the message. Though he may be busy, so I'm not sure when he'll get back to you._

_Just let him know that it was me that was getting his attention and he'll get back me. I'll make sure of it._

To the untrained eye, it would seem that Kendall was just talking to someone from Minnesota that was looking for his father. Maybe a past co-worker or a client that he had worked with before. But as Sydney continued to read them, given everything that had been going on that day and Kendall's actions the past couple of weeks, he knew that wasn't it.

"C'mon, c'mon," Sydney muttered to himself. He squeezed his eyes shut as he tried to think about the hidden message in any of those e-mails and the ones before and after those three.

Then it hit him.

He turned to his second monitor, which was a desk top, and pulled up the run command under the start menu. He pressed a couple of buttons in rapid succession before a complicated screen filled with numbers appeared. His eyes scanned the numbers and figures as he continued to type and click different points of the screen, bringing up other windows upon windows. A few times, he would stop to write a number on a scrap of paper until he had five numbers in front of him.

Finally, up came a dialogue box that looked like the one that you would use to put your password into. Sydney looked back and forth from the scrap of paper to the computer as he slowly and carefully typed in the numbers. He held his breath as he pushed the enter button. A new dialogue box opened.

"Yes!" He cheered, thrusting his hands into the air. He could hardly contain his excitement when the hidden IP address to the specific e-mails came up. He rested a hand over his mouth as he looked at the IP addresses, figuring out where they were coming from. _Minnesota…Los Angeles…Vegas…Nebraska…Virginia…what is going on?_

All of a sudden, his Skype started blinking with a video chat. Sydney looked over the contact name, TayAngelo and then quickly accepted it. When he pulled up the video chat, his therapist was looking back at him. "Did you get them to the drop off?" Sydney asked.

"Yep, and I got this." Dr. Angelo held up a cell phone. "Your sister switched it with hers, just like you told her too."

"Good." Sydney smiled and nodded. "So I have some news. I hacked into Kendall's e-mail and he had been talking to people with hidden IP address. I cracked them and found out that they were coming from California, Nevada, Minnesota, Nebraska, and Virginia. And the way that the e-mails were being worded, the people definitely knew Kendall and his family for a long time."

"Well, you _did_ tell me the last time I saw you that Kendall had been acting funny for weeks now. Especially when they came to visit you at Blazing Phoenix," Dr. Angelo agreed. "So that definitely has something to do with it. Have you told the police or Mrs. Knight about it yet?"

"No, I just figured it out," Sydney said. He then rolled his eyes. "And do you really think that the police will listen to an eleven year old about this?"

"Stranger things have happened," Dr. Angelo said. "If more people hear about what you've been finding out, they can't ignore you. So you told his mother and the rest of your friends what's been going on?"

"Yeah." Sydney nodded, thinking back to earlier in the hospital.

They had told Mrs. Knight, Ronan, Gustavo, and Kelly that Kendall had to leave because he put everyone in danger, and that the people that attacked Gustavo and Kelly were after him. They took it a bit better than their friends had, of course Mrs. Knight was worried, as was Ronan when he found out that his daughter was gone, but the police said that they were going to get right on the case and help as much as they could if Kendal was being harassed. And they were going to do everything they could to find out why he had been harassed for so long. Sydney and his brothers and sister had given them as much information as they could, but he could tell that the police officers didn't put much into what they were being told.

"My brothers, sister, and I are used to not being believed about some things," Sydney said. "There were some people that didn't believe us when we first tried telling people that we were abused. Then we stopped trying and just stuck it in our music. But I'm smart and my sisters, as much as they hate it, got into a lot of trouble when we were back in Australia, so if anyone can figure out what's going on to help him, then it's definitely us."

"I think your main flaw, apart from using your cuteness to get what you want, is the fact that you can be so arrogant," Dr. Angelo laughed.

"Yeah, I don't think many people realized it yet." Sydney managed to laugh a little. "I'm still trying to figure out how Kendall was able to hide everything for so long." He shook his head. "You said that you have the cell phone?"

"Yep. Right here." Dr. Angelo held it up. "It's the phone from the attacker. I've got the serial number here, and you can use that to get who it was bought by, when and where. Knowing you, since you can hack into anything, you can probably get that in a matter of seconds. I'd have to turn it in to the police for evidence soon, but if I get you the SIM card, you can crack the password protection on it to get into its texts and e-mails."

"Got it," Sydney agreed.

He took down the serial number, said goodbye to his therapist, and closed Skype. He went to a different program on his computer and punched in the serial number. It took him about a half hour before he was able to get the information he needed from it. The man that had bought it was Henry Miller, and he had gotten it a couple of months ago, though he already had a plan on another cell phone. Sydney's eyes narrowed as he moved through the activity that was made on the cell phone.

"So the calls and texts Kendall was getting was from the LA area," Sydney said, slowly. "But this man has been in direct communication with someone in Kansas…" His eyes darkened with realization. "So he's been watched for a while. Much longer than we originally thought…" He turned in his chair. "Rhu-Rhu!" He called.

A few moments later, Rhuben appeared in the doorway to his room. "What?" She asked.

"Do you still know how to get those fake IDs?" Sydney asked.

"Uh." Rhuben scratched the side of her neck as she leaned against the doorframe. "I only knew how to get them back home, but I can probably get Dak to help here," she said, speaking of her boyfriend. "I mean, being a Teen Icon has to have helped him somehow, right?" She gave a light laugh.

"If you can do that, that'd be great," Sydney said slowly. "I'd need two for Kendall and one for Ri-Ri…and maybe one for the rest of us too."

"Did you figure something out?" Rhuben moved across the room and rested her hand on Sydney's shoulder and looked at the computer screen. Her eyes scanned the computer for a moment before she looked down at her baby brother. "I don't know what any of this is telling me, Little Man."

"I don't expect you to," Sydney said with a cheeky smile. Rhuben ignored his tone. "Logan might, though, and I'd need his help. But we can't just sit around and wait for the police to get stuff done. I've gotten all that I can get down now, and I need you, Pat, and No to do something."

"Name it," Rhuben said.

"Wait until morning, we're going to need some sleep," Sydney said.

He reached out and closed his laptop.

* * *

"Do you have any ice left?" Kendall asked, leaning forward, holding his hands over his face. He sat back and winced as his forehead throbbed with pain. He let out a sigh and reached up a hand, angling the air conditioning towards him. "God, I can't believe it still hurts." He gritted his teeth. "If I knew waxing hurt that badly, I wouldn't make fun of mom when she goes to get stuff done."

"You just got your Eyebrows waxed, dude, chill," Riley commented, sitting in the aisle seat next to him. She was scowling, her arms crossed over her chest. "At least you didn't have to dye your hair because itss already turning brown."

Kendall sat back in his seat and looked over at her. "I already told you, your hair looks cute." He gave her a smile. "Besides, it makes your eyes stand out even more. And I like your eyes." His smile widened. "That's probably my favorite feature about you. Apart from your smirk and making fun of me of course."

"But I don't like feeling like I'm getting dumber by the second." Riley continued to pout.

Kendall chuckled. "Being a blonde doesn't mean that you're dumb."

"Not from the people I've met." Riley sighed and tilted her head back against the seat. She then opened her eyes and lifted a chunk of her now blonde hair in front of her face and studied it. "Well, I guess I'll take being a blonde over having scabs where my eyebrows used to be."

"It was my first time waxing, excuse me." Kendall frowned. He held out his hand. "Let me see your phone." Riley pulled it out of her pocket and handed it over. Kendall pulled up the camera function and Riley posed as he took a picture of her. His smile was wiped clean off of his face as she looked at his phone. "Wait a minute." He looked confused. "I thought we gave Dr. Angelo our phones in the car."

"_You_ did," Riley corrected him. "Back in the house, I took the phone from the guy that was attacking Gustavo and Kelly and gave _that_ one to Dr. Angelo, I kept mine. Depending on the water damage, when we get to Vegas, we can trade it in for a new one so we have some sort of communication with the others that can't be traced." She studied him. "Especially if yours had a bug on it."

Kendall stared at her for a moment before he grinned. He leaned forward and gave her a kiss. "You're awesome, you know that?"

"Glad you think so," Riley said with an air of pride. "But it's all just a matter of thinking two steps ahead of the opposition." She smirked. "Like I do with you."

"Good to know." Kendall's eyes shifted to the other side of the aisle. A stewardess was taking trash from some passengers, but had been looking at them for the past couple of minutes. He leaned back in his seat, trying to tell himself to calm down. But it was difficult to follow his own advice. If the flight attendant knew who they were, even with the painstaking changes they made to themselves, then they were screwed.

Before the cab driver had taken them to the airport, Riley directed him to a small drugstore where she got a box of wax for Kendall. As she had explained it, altering some of the features of your face made you look like a completely different person. Same with gaining or losing weight. It just made Kendall nauseous to think about the kind of pain that he would (and did) go through. But then when it came to getting hair dye, he had stopped her from getting him a box, saying that his hair was already starting to turn brown, so he wouldn't need it. Then it took him twenty minutes of arguing with her to convince her to get a bottle of hydrogen peroxide to dye her hair blonde. Then the two of them had gone to a gas station and locked themselves inside for almost an hour as he, once again, forced her to undergo the change. He knew that she could be stubborn but not that stubborn. He finally managed to get her to relax enough to do it by making an offhand comment about her habit of dragging him into bathroom stalls, making the other customers wonder what they were doing.

Then they had left the gas station and went to the airport. They were as calm as possible as they went into the terminal and got tickets for the quickest flight to Las Vegas. Kendall tried not to look at anyone, and hoped that they wouldn't recognize him; just so more people wouldn't be in danger. He didn't completely relax until they were in the air. Now the hour flight was almost over and his anxiety was flaring up again.

If they were recognized at this point, the airport security could be radioed in a second. There was no escape from a plane, which only had one door for hundreds of passengers. They would be trapped like rats on a Boeing 757. At last, the seat belt sign came back on. Kendall peered out the window at the vast area of lights below. There was only one word to describe it – breathtaking. Finding answers from a few people in Vegas would be like searching for a needle in a haystack.

_If they're even out here…but Syd seemed to be on something and I needed to get away…_

Kendall didn't allow himself to breathe again until the wheels of the plane had lurched on the runway. Las Vegas. He never thought that he would be there. He had humored the idea of moving there one day, but not when he was a little bit shy of his nineteenth birthday and still living with his mother and had no plans for his immediate future.

It happened in the first class cabin as they were waiting in a long line to exit the plane. Kendall and Riley were standing, somewhat turned to the side so that no one would get a good look at their faces. Kendall was holding onto her hand, giving her, and him, a sense of comfort. It was probably one of the few times that he could get away with it, as neither of them was that big on PDA. There was a surge from the back, someone was in a hurry and it knocked Kendall forward, into an empty seat.

There was a gasp of recognition from the flight attendant and Kendall looked up to see that she was staring at him.

Busted.

Riley reached up and yanked a small suitcase from the overhead rack. She swung it in a reckless arc, trying to clear some space around her. The passengers ducked and leaned out of the way.

"Hey, watch it!" A young man cried.

She dropped down to the floor and started to scramble on all fours, pushing legs and bags out of her way. Kendall righted himself in his seat and stood up, grabbing hold of an overhead rack, and swung himself into another seat, following her as he pushed her towards the door.

"Ouch!"

"Hey!"

"Watch it!"

"Crazy kids!"

"Somebody stop them!" They heard the gruff voice behind them.

A gate agent grabbed Riley's arm at the door. Kendall grabbed a briefcase off the carpet and slammed the brass corner onto the woman's foot. The woman let go and quickly backed off. Kendall grabbed onto Riley's hand and the two of them ran onto the jet bridge. It was packed with a second flight emptying from the other side. They burst through the exit and found themselves on a metal platform fifteen feet above the busy tarmac.

Kendall started to move towards a rickety ladder, but Riley stopped him with one word: "Jump!"

"What?"

"Jump!" Riley leapt off the edge of the platform. Kendall didn't hesitate to follow after her. Beneath them, a tractor carrying suitcase veered left to avoid an orange cone, bringing the three carts behind it into perfect position. Riley landed in the middle trailer and Kendall fell into the rear cart before burying himself underneath the mountain of luggage.

The man that had ordered them to stop ran out the jet-bridge door and looked around in disbelief. Not fifteen seconds before, the kid that he was chasing after had been right in before his eyes.

Where had they gone?

* * *

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE'S GONE?!" A fist slammed down onto the desk, causing a coffee mug to jump up and land on the floor. The mug shattered, sending coffee everywhere. The man stood up from his desk, pushing the chair back so hard that it crashed to the floor. He listened hard to the person on the other end. "I don't care if they flung themselves off the end of a tarmac! If you don't see their bodies crushed on the ground, they're still out there somewhere! So find them!"

The man hung up the phone by slamming it into its receiver. He let out a loud curse before kicking his desk…

* * *

Kendall pressed his face into the soft side of duffel. The thumping of his heat in his ears drowned out the roar of the baggage tractor. His stomach still churned from the leap off of the platform. He felt like he was going to puke. All at once, the dark night got even darker. Kendall peered between a few pieces of luggage. They had entered some kind of warehouse. He hoisted himself up by the rim of the art and risked a look out. The tractor navigated a dark, cluttered structure with suitcases stacked all around. Several trailers were parked at the far end where uniformed agents unloaded bags onto conveyer belts.

_We're in baggage claim!_

Kendall smiled a little. It was ironic, really. He and the guys always had been yelled at by Gustavo, Kelly, or his mother about goofing around on baggage claim and sitting on the conveyer belt, being brought around and around. And now here he was, behind the scenes of it.

In the cart behind him, Riley's head surfaced between backpacks. Kendall gestured for her to stay down. But they couldn't hide forever. And with each passing second, the tractor pulled them farther away from the only exit.

_No, wait, there's another way out. _Kendall swallowed thickly before he waved a hand to get Riley's attention. When she looked at him, he held up three fingers and slowly dropped them down. Three…two…one…at the same instant, they vaulted out of the carts and hit the cement floor running.

"Hey, you're not allowed back here!" barked an angry voice behind them.

The two jumped onto the baggage conveyer. Kendall hit the moving rubber, somersaulted, and righted himself just in time to see three airport employees sprinting toward them. The belt carried them through a divider of hanging canvas straps into the baggage retrieval system. The passage was narrow, and he whacked his head on a low hanging bar. Groaning in pain, Kendall reached up and felt a lump on his forehead as well as a little bit of blood at his hairline. Plastic rollers buffeted them on both sides. Ahead they could see hydraulic plates and rotating wheels designed to keep bags from getting stuck.

Suddenly, the belt deposited him on a slick metal chute, and he was sliding. He burst through another canvas divider to see the teeming arrivals level of McCarran International Airport. People stared as he hit the circling carousel. A second later, Riley slammed into his back, the force of the crash knocking her to the floor.

She scrambled to her feet as Kendall rolled off of the belt. A split second later, an earsplitting siren cut the air. They barreled though the automatic sliders, running as fast as they could. Then he saw it: the Hertz Rent-A-Car courtesy bus, parked at the curb directly in front of them. The open doors beckoned like a lifeboat to a drowning pair. They bounded onto the step in an instant before the doors folded shut. Several minutes later, they were pulling into the Hertz lot, the wailing of the airport alarm now out of earshot. As the other passengers lined up at the rental counter, Kendall and Riley hailed a passing taxi and jumped inside.

"Next time you want me to jump off something that will send me to my possible death, warn me," Kendall said, catching his breath.

Riley turned to him, eyes wide with innocence. "That wasn't fun for you?"

"Where to?" The driver asked.

"The Mirage Hotel," Kendall replied.

"Well, how do you like Vegas so far?" Riley asked as they headed into the city, lights shining all around them.

Kendall laughed.

* * *

**A/N: **For those of you hat read it, did you catch my reference to _You're Not Alone _in this chapter? It was really small…Anyway, I hope you guys liked this chapter and I'll update again soon. Syd's and everyone else's parts get bigger starting with the next chapter. I promise, promise, PROMISE the rest of the story starting with the next chapter will be a minimum of 5000 words. Also, don't forget that since this story is fiction, a lot of it might not be possible realistically.

I hope I gave you all a better look at Sydney here, the way I see it, being the youngest of his family as well as his friends would make it that he uses his cuteness/age when he needs to, but his flaw is that he's very arrogant. (Just like Riley's flaw is her anger/bossyness, Rhuben's is her coldness, Patrick's being a bit stupid, Noah being very quiet, and then Sydney with his arrogance). Plus, I wanted to show Sydney in a bit of a leadership role.

Also, on our tumblr, (dark-elements-10) I'm putting up pics and gif/photo sets that go with the story, so check out the one for this chapter. There's one of Kendall from the last chapter as well.

Cheers,

-Riles


	6. Push Comes To Shove

**.:Chapter Six:.**

* * *

Kendall woke up from a restless sleep, feeling like crap. His whole body hurt and he felt like he was lifting weights with his eyelids. He rolled onto his back and ran his hands over his face, yawning loudly. He dropped his arms to his sides and stared up at the ceiling. It took him a moment to remember that he wasn't in the PalmWoods. The low ceiling was one clue, and the fact that his bed was twice as wide as the one in the crib reminded him that he wouldn't roll over and find Logan smiling at him, like he usually did in his sleep.

Kendall pulled himself out of his bed and walked over to the dresser, grabbing his shirt from on top. He frowned when he heard a clinking sound accompanied by a rustling from just outside his room. He walked out of his room and into the spacious living room of the suite that they had managed to get in The Mirage. He smiled to himself when he thought about how he just had to use Gustavo's name and he got a suite at one of the more expensive hotels for free. Well, free for him but not for Gustavo.

But 500 dollars a night couldn't be that much for Gustavo when he was able to have five mansions, a record company, and almost everything he could ever want in life.

"Well, sleeping beauty's finally awake."

"I'm not the one that looks like a Disney princess," Kendall said to Riley as he walked into the living room. He laughed when Riley pouted and pulled some of her now blonde hair in front of her face. She was clearly still upset about it. He never understood why girls got so attached to their hair, and he didn't really want to know why. He walked over to her and gave her a kiss before sitting down on the couch next to her. "If I could wake up to that every morning, I would be the happiest person on the planet," he said, noting that she was only in a sports bra and a pair of black shorts, a towel around her neck.

"I expected something like that from James," Riley said. She leaned forward and grabbed a plate of food from the coffee table beside them. "But that romance crap had to get tiring eventually." She gave him a funny look as he yawned again. This time he yawed so hard that it brought tears to his eyes. "You know you've been asleep for twenty hours? I guess the jet lag and shock really got to you."

"I'll say," Kendall leaned back, closing his eyes.

"So are you ever going to tell me what's going on or am I going to have to beat it out of you?" Riley asked, cutting into her biscuit so she could put honey on it.

"Where'd you get that anyway?" Kendall asked, turning his head to look at her. He was too tired to get up.

"Room service," Riley said. "But I had them leave it by the door because I'm not sure who's going to hack my head off with an axe as soon as I opened it." Kendall rolled his eyes. "I got you a plate, too."

"Thanks," Kendall leaned forward and grabbed his plate, crossing his legs so he could balance his plate on them. He took a bite of his biscuit and made a face when it got stuck in a clump in his mouth. Even one of the best hotels didn't have anything on his mother's cooking. He paused, lowering it back to his plate. "So I guess I should tell you what's been going on."

"From having to jump from a car and nearly get killed by going through a baggage claim, I think so too," Riley agreed with a little bit of attitude.

Kendall reached a hand up to his forehead and winced when he felt the bump that he had gotten from the pole, going through baggage claim. He wouldn't be surprised if he had a bit of a concussion. He had gotten hit hard enough when playing hockey that he could recognize it quickly. "You're not going to believe me."

"Try me, Hockey-Head," Riley pressed.

"You still don't believe us when we tell you about what happened with MI6 when we were in London," Kendall pointed out. Riley shrugged. He let out a heavy sigh. "Ok. My dad's been running a ponzi scheme and while he's making sure that he doesn't get linked back to the crime, he's blackmailing his clients."

Riley looked stunned, her fork halfway to her mouth. "And what does that have to do with you?"

"Since they can't find my dad, a lot of people are taking it out on me," Kendall explained. "Or are trying to, anyway. They think that I've been in contact with him and that me, my mom, and Katie know what's been going on. And apparently there's something else that my dad has that they want…I don't know." He shook his head. "But I couldn't have that around them any longer, so I needed to get away."

Riley continued to stare at him, but this time, she had the fork back on her plate. She opened and closed her mouth a few times, trying to figure out what she was going to say. Finally, she picked up her plate and placed it on the coffee table, before turning back to Kendall, resting her hands in her lap.

"I hope you don't take this the wrong way, Hockey-Head, but your dad's a freak!" She said.

"Yeah, and it's that freak that's got me in this mess," Kendall said. He looked thoughtful. "If we're going to stay in Vegas for a while, we're going to need some money, jus so we don't have to live off of Gustavo's for a while."

"Why?" Riley smirked. "It'll probably be the only time you can do it."

Kendall went back into his room and grabbed his shoes. He pulled them on and grabbed his wallet before walking back out to the living room. He started to say something, but a beeping sound caught his attention. He patted his pockets before he found his in-ears. It continued to beep loudly. He quickly put them in his ears.

"Kendall, can you hear me?" Sydney's voice sounded.

"Yeah, Syd, I can hear you just fine," Kendall replied. "What's up?" He held up a finger when Riley waved a hand, trying to get his attention. He pressed a finger to his in-ear to listen harder.

"I've got some news for ya," Sydney said. "You know those e-mails that you've been getting from those people where the IP address was hidden? Well, I did a check and they were coming from LA, Vegas, Kansas, Minnesota, and Virginia. So while you're out there…you may want to check around and see what you can find out about the people chasing you."

"That should be pretty easy," Kendall said. "Considering Vegas is so big."

"Blend with the crowd," Sydney reminded him. "We've got some fake IDs coming your way soon, just in case you need to get into a casino or something. Other than that, we're still trying to figure out the guy that attacked Gustavo and Kelly and what he has to do with everything."

"Alright, no problem. We'll get back to you with some news as soon as we figure some stuff out." Kendall agreed. He pulled his in-ears out and shoved them back into his pocket. "I'm going to go look around and see what I can find out." He started towards the door. "Stay here."

"Excuse me?" Riley crossed her arms over her chest as she raised her eyebrows.

Kendall sighed heavily before turning back around to face her. "Look, I know you don't like being told what to do-"

"Is it that obvious?" Riley demanded. She gave a patient sigh, rubbing her forehead before looking at him and speaking calmly. "I don't want to fight about it. But, it's not your job to protect me."

"As your boyfriend _and _your friend, I'd say it was," Kendall said. He clasped his hands together. "I'm only going to be gone for an hour at the most. I just want to look around and get a feel of this place. And if Syd says that some of the e-mails that I've been getting is from here in Las Vegas, that means that these people might have been waiting for me to leave and I need to know."

Riley held up her hands and walked out of the living room into her room.

Kendall rolled his eyes as he grabbed a card key and left the hotel suite. He got into the elevator and rode it down to the lobby. It was as big as he thought it would be, and even more extravagant than any other hotel that he had stayed in. Even the one that he and the other boys stayed in when they were on tour in London. He couldn't help but smirk a little at the irony. They had gotten in way of their heads in trouble in London; even getting Katie dragged into it and being kidnapped and held for random. And now here he was, in Vegas trying to find out what his father had done this time to ruin his life.

_What kind of thing could Dad have that wants people to chase after him this badly?_

Kendall slowly walked around the lobby before wandering around the bottom floor of the hotel. He was trying to look as inconspicuous as possible, but every glance at someone that walked by him caused him distress. His heart beat would increase and his hand would flood with sweat. Was that someone that was chasing him? Was the concierge working with the people that were trying to get revenge on his father? Would he be chased every place he went in that hotel? He tried to keep his gaze down towards the person's neck, that way he wouldn't attract any attention if he caught anyone's gaze.

All of a sudden, he felt a chill run down his spine. He slowed his walk as he turned a corner. He sighed when he realized that he had wandered so far and didn't know which way was back to the lobby. He could hear splashing in a pool in the distance as well as the sounds of slot machines being played. He turned and risked a glance over his shoulder, hearing the sound of someone following him. But the hallway was empty. Kendall turned back around and continued to inch down the hallway, looking left and right at each door he passed, trying to find a staff room or a break room so he could find his way back. He quickened his pace.

All of a sudden, a man rounded the corner in front of him. He stood still at the end of the hallway before starting to walk towards Kendall with slow, deliberate strides. Kendall turned to go back the other way, but stopped when the man that had been following him, walked closer to him. Kendall felt his heart fall to his feet as he looked back and forth, trying to keep both men in his sights at all times. The man at the far end of the hall pulled a gun out of his pocket and leveled it at Kendall. Kendall's breath caught in his throat, taking a couple of quick steps backward. As the two men got closer to him, evil grins sliding over his face, Kendall tried to think about what his friends would do.

Carlos would probably scream and run away if he didn't launch himself onto the nearest guy by him, James would probably use all of the boxing training that he knew to get the guys away from him, and Logan probably would have some sort of strategic plan that would stall the two men long enough so that they would be able to get out of the situation. _I wish they were here with me right now. _Kendall continued to look back and forth between the two men, a sheen of nervous sweat on his forehead.

"Don't do anything stupid, kid, we just need to you to come with us," The man with the gun said.

"Give us the list and we won't have any problems," the one behind him said. His eyes were wild behind his glasses and he looked at Kendall like he was a starving wolf looking at a piece of meat.

Kendall's brain was in overdrive at that point, going from thoughts of his father, to his friends, to the gun that was pointed at him, to wonder what sort of life they were looking for and why they thought that he had it. On a whim, he did the first thing that he could think of whenever he was cornered like that. He threw himself at the man behind him in a body slam, the same sort of check that he would use in a hockey game. But this time he didn't have the protective padding and helmet to protect him, so he lowered his head and plowed it into the man's stomach as he crashed into him.

The two fell to the ground as the man with the gun started to run towards Kendall. Kendall sat up just as the man with the gun grabbed onto his shoulder. Kendall brought back his right arm and drove his fist into the man's stomach, twisting o the side at the same time. The man with the gun let out a gasping sound, his face turning white. Kendall then grabbed him by the front of the shirt and turned, using his weight to throw the man to the ground. He then leapt to his feet and started to run down the hallway, stopping long enough to scoop the gun up off of the ground. He didn't know where he was going, but he had to get away as fast as possible.

It wasn't long before he could hear the sound of rapid footsteps chasing after him. His stomach was churning as his feet hit the carpeted floor. He knew that the men were right behind him, but he couldn't tell how close they were. He wasn't going to dare look over his shoulder to look, either. Kendall skidded around the corner and almost crashed into a maid's cart that was coming out of a room. He spun to the side, but lost his footing and fell to the ground. One of the men was on his back in a second, a hand in Kendall's hair and an arm around his neck. Kendall let out a gasp of pain as the main pulled his hand up, painfully ripping at Kendall's hair. He was forced back around and punched across the face.

Kendall's vision swam as he slumped to the side, trying to catch his breath.

"What…?"

Kendall could hear the maid let out a surprised gasp as she witnessed the exchange. The man with the glasses took a step forward, giving a disarming smile. "Don't worry about him," he said to the maid. "It's just our nephew. He doesn't listen to authority very well. It makes his mother cry, we're just trying to knock some sense into him."

The maid continued look at them oddly as she took the cart and moved to go into the next room. The two men grabbed Kendall's arm and legs and lifted him up, carrying him off. His vision continued to swim, the walls and floors tilting and slanting as he was carried to a different room. Once inside, he was dropped onto a bed. Kendall groaned as the pain caused stars to explode in front of his face. He continued to lie there as the two men walked around the room, looking out the peephole and the windows, checking to see if anyone was watching them.

As Kendall's eyes started to focus, he noticed a backpack on the ground, underneath a bed. It was partially unzipped and some money was spilling out. He pushed himself up, briefly looking around the room. The men still ignored Kendall as they secured the room; it gave Kendall the chance to sit up, shaking his head. He couldn't even begin to imagine the bruising that was going to happen.

"Alright kid, just give us the list and we'll let you go," the man with the gun said.

Kendall rolled over so he was sitting on the edge of the bed. He shook his head, and reached a hand up to his face, feeling blood. He hadn't even gotten hurt that bad when he would get slammed in the boards in hockey.

"I don't know what you're talking about," he muttered.

"Come on, Kevin Knight can't be one of the bigger lawyers in Los Angeles and his son doesn't know what's going on," the man with the glasses said. "Then again, he wasn't the _best_ father in the world, so I can guess I can cut you a _little _slack."

"Look…" Kendall tried to stay calm. "I don't care what you do to me. Just stop harassing my friends and family."

The man with the gasses laughed a laugh so cruel that it shook Kendall to the core. He turned to his companion. "Price, did you hear that? He wants to try and negotiate with us. He turned back to Kendall. "Sorry, kid, but we're the ones that are making the rules here. Give us the list."

"I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT!" Kendall shouted, suddenly losing his composure. "I don't know what list you're looking for!"

Price stepped closer to Kendall, his finger hovering over the trigger of his gun. "We're the ones with the power here. Just to remind you. If you don't cooperate, then you're going to make me mad."

"I've been harassed by you guys for the past two months and its gotten bad enough that I had to run off to Las Vegas to make sure my friends don't get hurt," Kendall said, sarcastically. "I think that I'm allowed to be a little bit annoyed with it."

Price let out a chuckle, lowering the gun. He then turned back and lunged towards Kendall, his hands outstretched as he reached for his neck. Kendall reacted quickly, leaning back out of the way. He grabbed onto he chord of the phone that sat on the bedside table and yanked as hard as he could. The phone flew off of the table and hit Price in the face. He rolled to the floor and grabbed the lamp, turning and throwing it at Price's companion. He ducked out of the way in time for Kendall to grab a chair and start swinging it at him. The chair leg caught the man on the side of the head, knocking him over.

Kendall then used the momentum of the swing to turn back to Price and hit him in the face. Kendall jumped forward and scooped up the gun once more. He then dove under the bed and grabbed the bag of money, zipping it up before rushing out of the hotel room. He ran as fast as he could, finally finding the lobby and getting into the elevator. He jabbed at the button that marked the floor that their suite was on, anxiously looking out to see if they were coming for him. When the doors slid shut, he let out a sigh of relief and collapsed against the ground, trying to catch his breath. He looked up, suddenly noticing a couple who were looking at him funny.

"Just…playing tag with my little brother," he explained. He felt the blood on his face starting to dry, making him aware of the itchiness. "We can get a little rough sometimes." He let out a nervous laugh as the elevator stopped and the couple got off on their floor.

Kendall ran a hand through his hair and stood up, holding his weight against the railing at the back of the elevator. He rode the elevator up to the floor and shifted the backpack up his shoulder before cautiously stepping out, looking around. It didn't seem like anyone was looking for him. Then again they would have a lot of rooms and a lot of floors to look through and they weren't going to get any information from the front desk. Apparently Gustavo was so paranoid about going to hotels and being disturbed that the staff was under very specific instructions not to let anyone that he didn't already confirm to need him, to bother him. According to him, it was the best way to get some peace and quiet and the best way for him to work on songs without being disturbed.

Kendall pulled out the card key to the suite and swiped it through the reader. He nearly fell through the door as it opened quickly. Riley stood in front of him and as she got a good look at him, her expression went from a blank one to one of shock and concern.

"What happened to you?" Riley asked, her eyes growing wide.

"Something stupid," he replied. He closed the door to the suite and walked over to the couch, sitting down. He dropped the backpack to the floor. "Don't worry though; it looks worse than it actually is. I've gotten hurt much worse while playing hockey against Duluth." Riley appeared at his side, opening a first aid kid. She ripped open a package of an antiseptic wipe.

"This might hurt," she warned him, pressing it to his lip. Kendall winced, pulling his face back for a moment. "So what'd you do? Run into a door?"

"More like someone's first," Kendall said slowly. "There was this guy that was drunk, apparently coming from an all-nighter at the casino. Apparently I didn't move out of his way fast enough." He avoided her gaze, knowing that if she caught his eye, she would immediately know that he was lying. There was a good chance that she knew that he was lying _without _having to look in his eyes. "And this was his way of telling me to move."

"Ouch." Riley grimaced. "Sorry."

"It's not your fault," Kendall said quickly.

"It kinda is," Riley rested her hands in her lap. "I mean, I was the one that was fucking stupid enough to let you go and try to find out more about what was going on." She scoffed. "My brothers, sis, and I have been in enough trouble to know when something doesn't feel right. And while this place is pretty cool, there's somethin' odd about this place."

"You're just still freaked about Logan telling you that there are cameras everywhere in Vegas," Kendall said.

"If there's anything else that'll make me paranoid, it's having a camera around that I can't see," Riley agreed.

Kendall sighed. "I don't know, I just thought that getting out of LA, to make sure that everyone was safe, would make things easier." He frowned, lightly shaking his head. "I just thought that Vegas would be different or something, but it's not."

"Are you sorry you came?" Riley asked her eyes boring into his.

"If it means getting this nipped in the bud, no," He reached down and grabbed the backpack filled with money. "Check this out," He opened it and handed it out to her. Riley's eyebrows disappeared into her black/red fringe. "I didn't rob a bank if that's what you're thinking," he said when she didn't say anything.

"I wasn't, but now I am," Riley said. "How'd you get it?"

"I found it," Kendall said. He let out a heavy sigh. "I know you're going to find out anyway. There were these two guys, Price and someone, they attacked me. They must have been the people that Syd was talking about when he said that they've been e-mailing me. They knew that my dad is a lawyer and they kept going on and on about some list that apparently I have. I found this in the room with them."

Riley's eyes flashed. "And you didn't tell me that at first because you didn't want me to worry?" She demanded. Kendall nodded. "You should know by now that it doesn't matter what you do. I'm always going to worry, boofhead." Kendall was surprised that she wasn't angry at him. Angrier, anyway, her face wasn't red, so he could tell that she wasn't pissed. "But that's not important, how did they know that you would be coming here? And how are we sure that they won't find us in this room?"

"Too many rooms to look through," Kendall replied. "So they'd have to specifically be on the lookout for me. Otherwise, they would have known what room we were in already."

"I told you, you should have dyed your hair, too." Riley grabbed the bag and started to leaf through the stacks of bills. She frowned, looking it over. "I don't know…" Riley said slowly. "It might not be a good idea if we use it. It seems a little too convenient that they _just so happened _to have this bag with them, mate. What if there's a bug in it or something?"

"Oh, Riley Jackson actually has a guilty conscience," Kendall teased. "Color me shocked." Riley reached out and smacked him on the arm. "Oh come on, you have to admit, when we first met you guys, you all didn't seem to care what you did to get us to stay away from you."

"Too bad it didn't work," Riley dead-panned. She reached up and started to dab at his lip again. "So how are you going to explain getting hurt? It might bring too much attention to us if you tell someone. Especially since we were getting weird looks when we got the room in here."

"Oh, I fell while hiking in the Amazon," Kendall said with a half smile.

"Ha!" Riley snorted. "It's going to have to be more believable then that."

Kendall smirked as he tilted his head, looking at her. "Or I got bit by my girlfriend," he teased.

"The only problem with that is that I don't bite," Riley said. Kendall gave her a knowing look and she laughed, holding up her hands. "Ok, but my bark is much worse than my bite," Riley said.

* * *

**A/N: **The action started with Kendall here and its going to start back in LA in the next chapter with everyone else. And Kendall isn't going to be the only one to get into fights. A lot of people are. ;) I hope you guys liked it.

Cheers,

-Riles


	7. Cloudy with a Chance of Gettysburg

**.:Chapter Seven:.**

* * *

James waited until Mrs. Knight and Katie had been asleep for a while before he rolled out of bed. He quickly and quietly pulled on a pair of jeans over his boxers and grabbed a shirt, pulling it over his head. He then slipped on his shoes and put his lucky comb in his pocket, before going over to Carlos's bed and waking him up.

"Huh? Wha?" Carlos shifted to the side and pushed himself out of his pillow. He looked up when he saw James kneeling over him. "What's going on? Did you hear anything else?"

"No," James said quietly. "But you need to wake up so we can get going?"

"What?" Carlos rubbed his eyes. "Go where?"

"The police aren't moving fast enough." James ran his hands through his hair. Carlos noticed that they were shaking, showing the anxiety that he had been trying to hide all week. "Kendall could be shot dead weeks before the police even find out. If we're going to get some answers, then we're going to have to get them ourselves."

"Wait." Carlos was now wide awake. He got out of his bed and started to search for a sweatshirt to put on. "What are we going to do though? It's not like we can just run around and ask people, hey, do you know what could have driven Kendall out of here?"

"I know." James turned back to Carlos, his eyes shifting back and forth as he moved his gaze to the ground. "But Syd has been saying that Kendall has gotten some weird e-mails from different places around here, some of it being from LA. So, maybe we can figure out some stuff that's been going on and move things along faster."

Carlos sighed loudly. He pulled on his clothes and then grabbed his helmet, pulling it on. "Ok, I don't like the idea of this, but ok." He followed James out of their room and into Kendall's and Logan's room. It was pretty jarring to be in there. Logan wasn't smiling in his sleep, like he usually did, he was tossing and turning, and Kendall usually talked in his sleep. So the fact that there was no sound in the room was very scary for them. Carlos moved forward and shook Logan's arm. He woke up almost immediately.

"What are you doing?" He asked.

"We're going to help Kendall," James said.

Logan looked at the ceiling for a moment and then rolled his eyes before getting out of the bed. James could practically see all of the thoughts running through his head; how did they always get into this sort of trouble? What was going to happen to them while they were out? Would it really help Kendall? Would it just get them wrapped up in everything too?

Nevertheless, Logan got dressed quickly and grabbed his cell phone and the keys to the Big Time Rush mobile before they quietly left the crib. As they left the PalmWoods, sneaking quietly past Bitters' door, fully aware of the 'no loitering in the lobby after nine pm' rule as they had broken it many times before. Once they got outside, they could hear thunder rumbling in the distance.

Logan pulled up the top to the Big Time Rush mobile, just in case it started to rain, and then got into the driver's seat, slamming the door shut behind him. "You guys have any idea where to start?" He asked in a low mumble, still waking up from his sleep.

"I was thinking his dad's firm," James said slowly. "Syd said that he has some e-mails from people that mention his dad a lot, so there's no way that he doesn't have something to do with this." Logan looked at James in shock. Carlos seemed completely oblivious to it, half asleep on the passenger side window. "What?"

"You're smarter than you look," Logan commented.

James laughed quietly.

Logan started the car and pulled out of the parking lot, heading into the city. It was one of the few times that the streets were nearly empty, but that did nothing to quell Logan's nervousness. Any person they passed on the sidewalk could be someone against them. Any car they passed could have had someone that was trying to stop them from helping their best friend. The three of them were quiet and they drove to the law firm that Kevin Knight worked for. The lights were all out as they pulled into the parking lot and there didn't seem to be anyone around.

James, Carlos, and Logan slowly walked over to the front doors of the building. Carlos looked back behind them; just to be sure that no one was following them. Logan looked around, a hand up to his chin. James let out a sound of annoyance when he noticed the alarm on the front door. He waved a hand, leading the way to the back. There was a solid, metal door with only a door handle at the back. James grabbed onto the door handle and shook it twice before twisting it down and leaning his full weight against the door. When that didn't work, Carlos slapped his helmet twice and lowered his head, as if he was about to body slam the door.

Logan threw out his arm and caught him before he moved. "Wait, wait, wait!" He whispered harshly. "Don't do that, if you pop the door open before we're sure…you might trip a silent alarm or something."

"So what do you think we should do?" Carlos asked. "Wait for the police to come catch us?"

Logan snorted before he bent down and lightly touched his tongue to the door. He winced and pulled back when he felt a slight shock. Yep, there was a bit of an electric current there, so there had to be a sort of alarm somewhere. Logan pulled his wallet from his pocket along with a small set of pliers.

"And I thought _I _carried weird things in my pockets," James said, though he looked impressed.

"You do," Carlos quipped. "But at least Logan carries things that are helpful for us." James reached over and smacked Carlos on the back of the head, letting out a cry and shaking his hand when the sting of the slap against the helmet hit his hand. Carlos grinned.

Logan pulled a credit card out of his wallet and stuck it in between the crack of the door, being careful not to drop it through the door. He shimmied it up and down as he turned the door handle. He held his breath as the door popped open a fraction. There was no sound, so he hadn't tripped the alarm, at least not yet.

"Hurry up!" James hissed.

Logan ignored him and pulled up the pliers. He stuck it through the door and pinched a few places before letting out a sigh and slight laughter, pulling the door open the whole way. At eye level, a wire was cut, swinging back and forth.

"And you guys say learning about everything is stupid," He bragged as they went inside.

"It is," Carlos said. He slapped Logan on the back. "But good job anyway." Logan rolled his eyes and the three went into the building. Logan went to the front desk and looked over a map that showed who's office that was on each floor. They found Mr. Knight's to be on the third floor and quickly headed up. The three then slipped into his office with ease.

"So what are we looking for exactly?" Carlos asked in a hushed whisper. He went over to a desk drawer and opened it, peering inside.

"I'm not sure," James admitted. "It was just an idea. Just…if there's anything that you find interesting, then let the others know." He sat down in the chair and shook the mouse, bringing up the screen. "Crap, there's a password."

"Maybe it's his birthday," Logan suggested. He and Carlos moved over to their friend and leaned down by him to look at the screen. "Try that." James typed in Mr. Knight's birthday and came up with nothing. "This'll be ironic, try, Kendall's, Katie's, or Mama Knight's." Each of them came up empty.

"Hmm, what else could it be?" James rubbed his chin.

"I got it!" Carlos leaned forward and started to type on the keyboard. He grinned when he pressed enter and was let into the system. James and Logan looked up at Carlos in shock. "What?"

"What was his password?" James demanded. Logan brought out a pad of paper and grabbed a pen, poised to write it down.

"Password." Carlos shrugged. "Do you really think that if Kendall doesn't know how to spell his own password that his father would? Sheesh, they're more alike than we thought." He rolled his eyes as James and Logan turned their attention back to the computer. James took control of the mouse and started to search through the files that were on the computer. A bunch of documents that didn't make any sense to him, jumped out at them and he continued to scroll through them.

All of a sudden, Logan shot out a hand and directed James to print out a couple of the documents. "I know that you guys don't understand it, but there's a pattern in these documents." His eyes shifted back and forth. "I can't see it yet, but I know that's there's something in there." He turned around and pointed to the wireless printer. "Carlos, go get those and let's get out of here as fast as we can."

Carlos nodded and took the sheets of paper that the printer spit out. They then shut off Mr. Knight's computer and snuck back out of the law firm. It started to rain as they got back into the Big Time Rush mobile and pulled out of the parking lot, starting to go back to the PalmWoods. They had been driving for only ten minutes before Logan noticed that there was a car following close behind them. Every turn they would take, the other car would take.

"What are they doing?" Carlos twisted in his seat to look behind them. He shielded his face as the high beams were shot into the car.

"They're following us," James said. As soon as the words left his mouth, the sound of tires squealing filled the air. The car behind them sped up and zoomed against of them before turning into Logan's lane and slamming on the breaks.

"Shit!" Logan sharply turned the wheel and swerved out of the way. He shook his head as he stomped on the gas pedal. The car behind them sped up as well, keeping close tabs on Logan. "Shit, shit, shit." Logan swerved back into the lane to his left, almost knocking into the car that was beside them.

"Watch it!" James cried, grabbing onto the armrests of his seat. All of a sudden, sirens filled the air and the three of them turned to see police cars chasing after them. "Oh, you've got to be kidding!"

Logan set his lips in a thin line. He had some person chasing after them and now they also had the police behind them as well. They continued to drive recklessly, Logan trying to lose the guy behind them, but he stayed on their tail. Logan's eyes continued to dart to his mirrors, the sound of sirens closing in on him. His right hand was placed firmly on the wheel, making wide circles as he rounded each curve. The cars continued to follow close behind him. The one right behind them continued to flash their high-beams, and the police cars were close behind after them.

Suddenly a blue and white car, sirens blazing, pulled out from an alleyway and parked in the road in front of him. Logan pulled back the emergency brake, and swerved into the alley the car had just pulled out of. The tail of his car slammed into the right side of the policeman. He floored the gas pedal and raced out onto the main road.

"Good one, Logan!" Carlos cried. He was the only one that the adrenaline was giving an outward reaction to.

As Logan continued to keep his eyes on the road, the car behind them moved up alongside them a dark haired men driving it. The moment Logan tore his gaze away from the street and looked over at the car beside them, his hand shook the wheel far to the left and he rammed into the car next to them. The police had faded away behind them as the two cars continued to race down the road.

The man in the car behind them rolled down his window and pointed something at them. They immediately knew that it was a gun.

Now it was him, James, Logan, and Carlos…

* * *

**A/N: **I hope that you guys liked this chapter; things are really getting crazy for everyone. And while typing up this story, I've learned that I should NEVER give myself a length of what a story is going to be or else that'll drive me nuts. Haha. You probably thought that it was too easy for them to get the documents off of Mr. Knight's computer…well, you're right…

Also, I keep forgetting to put this at the end of my chapters so you guys are aware: For those of you who don't know, we changed the Logan/Rhuben pairing name for Lella to Lolla (LOgan/RhubeLLA). We just think it sounds better to be honest, lol. But, until everyone's used to it, we'll refer to a fic (for example) as Lolla (aka Lella) or something like that so you won't be confused.

Cheers,

-Riles


	8. Wanted

**A/N: **I'm SO sorry guys. There originally was a 8th chapter to this about Sydney and showing more with who was trying to help Kendall and Logan, Carlos, and James, and a small part with Kendall. But I accidentally replaced it with a chapter to another story. I don't have the original chapter 8 document to this anymore. So I'm sorry there's a chapter missing.

**-Riles**


	9. Believe Me

**.:Chapter Nine:.**

**A/N: Just a warning that there is a instance of strong language in this chapter.**

* * *

Before Sydney had a chance to move, he was grabbed by the shoulders and lifted off of his feet so he was face to face to one of the men that were in the room. The other two guarded the door, looking over their shoulders, to make sure that no one was following them. Sydney gulped as he looked right into the man's steel gray eyes and then relaxed as best as he could, feigning an air of confidence.

"You know child abuse is against the law, right?" He asked.

The man gave a half smile. "I know that you would have something snarky to say about that," he said. "Considering you know so much about it."

Sydney's eyes narrowed. "How much do you know about me?"

"More than you think," the man continued. "Than any of you think, really. I know all about you, about your family, about your friends. I know about things that you think that people would never find out." He continued to hold Sydney up in front of him. "Now, that being said, I hope you realize the severity of what's going on."

Sydney raised an eyebrow. "I hope that _you _realize the severity of what's going on." _I hope he doesn't realize that I'm lying through my teeth as best as I can. _"The receptionist must have noticed that I haven't come back in a while, there are police all over the place, and I'm pretty sure a law firm doesn't get many kids around here. They're going to notice if I go missing."

"Kid, we don't want any troub-"

Sydney lashed out his right foot and kicked the man in the balls. He immediately let go of Sydney and the young boy dropped to the ground. He landed on his hands and knees and quickly swung his leg to the side, kicking one of the other men in the shin as hard as he could, then did a somersault forward and jamming his foot up into the other man's balls. The man that was kicked in the shin reached out for Sydney, but he crab-walked backwards out of the way and rushed behind the desk. He unpugged the mouse from the computer and grabbed onto the USB end.

Twirling the mouse around his head, he threw it, and it wrapped around the man's throat. Sydney placed his feet on the drawers of the desk and leaned back, using his body weight to tighten the mouse around the man's neck and drag him towards the desk. The man frantically clawed at his throat, trying to get the mouse out from around his neck. Sydney pulled harder, watching as the man's face started to turn red.

"Stop!" The first man cried one hand still on his balls, the other one outstretched.

Sydney's arm slackened a little bit as he watched the two men holding onto their balls. He then turned his gaze to the man that he was holding on to and let go. He gasped for air and fell to the ground, pulling the cord of the mouse out from his neck.

"Alright…" Sydney reached into his pants pocket and pulled out a pocketknife. "You've got five minutes to talk before I start to try and drag everything out of you." He flipped his pocketknife in the air and then slid out the knife. "And trust me, since you all know everything about me and everything that I've been through, you'll know what I can do with this pocketknife."

The first man let go of the crouch of his pants and slowly stood up. He walked over to the desk and rested a hand against it. Sydney took a step back as he watched him carefully. "I'm not going to hurt you," he said. He then chuckled a little as he winced. "Though you really did a number on me, it's going to be something I won't forget for a while."

"Flattery will get you nowhere," Sydney commented.

"Yeah, neither with not being able to walk," the man stood up straight. "I told you, I'm not going to hurt you."

Sydney studied the man carefully his eyes shifting from him to his two accomplices, who had moved back to guard the door. He then turned back to the man in front of him. "Hm." _Good hand movements. _He stared hard at the man's face. _Direct eye contact. His hands are staying on the desk. No scratching_. He continued to stare at the man, his eyes watching his every move as the seconds passed between them. _He's directly facing me and the only object between us is the desk_. Sydney smirked at himself. _But you did just kick him in the balls, so…_

The man was definitely telling the truth.

"So what do you want?" Sydney asked, crossing his arms over his chest. "To be a completely freakish stalker? To be a kidnapper? Or to potentially have a hostage situation on your hands, because, like I said, the receptionist will realize I'm not here and there are police everywhere…."

"Your sister and Kendall…they're in Vegas and things aren't going well for them there," the man said. "Just like here, Logan, James, and Carlos had been here recently, they were the ones that broke in." He let out a deep breath and removed his hand from the table, sitting up straight. "And they had gotten in some trouble when they were on their way back."

"Really?" Sydney's eyebrows lowered in concern. "They didn't tell me about that. What happened?"

"Someone that didn't want them to find out what's been going on had threatened to shoot them, and he chased them most of the way back to the PalmWoods. Thankfully they still got you the information that you needed, unfortunately, I don't think anyone noticed that the files were encrypted."

"I had the feeling," Sydney remarked. "Nothing this good wouldn't have a sense of security on it," He turned his backpack around and unzipped it, pulling them out. He spread them out onto the desk. "I didn't get a chance to look at it, but I figured if it had something to do with Mr. Knight, then it has something to do with money."

"You're smarter than I thought," the man said.

"I get that a lot," Sydney commented. "But lawyers and money go hand in hand. So it wasn't that hard to figure what the big problem could be. Now, what I really want to know is what does this have to do with Kendall. Especially because if it's something with his dad, why would they go after only _one_ of his kids?" He scratched his forehead. "You know that they're in Vegas, they should be getting more news tonight and getting back to me with it."

"Good." The man turned to his companions and started to help them up off of the floor. "I'll get back in contact with you."

Sydney gave a barking laugh. "Like I'm that stupid." He shook his head. "How do I know that you're really trying to help us?" His eyes narrowed. "How do I know that you're not just going to find a way to throw this back in my face?"

"How do I know that you're actually telling me the truth for me to throw it back in your face?" The man asked.

"Good point," Sydney remarked. "Because I could be lying." He shrugged. "But I guess this really just gets chalked up to the fact that we can't really trust each other." Sydney examined his fingernails before resting his hands on the desk and leaning forward. "But I can tell you right now, no matter what you do, I'm always going to have the upper hand."

"I know that you're only eleven, but you're a kid," the man said.

"And that's the exact reason why I'll have the upper hand." Sydney smirked. "

The man shook his head. "Be careful, kid. Things aren't always what they seem and they can easily come back and bite you in the ass." He cracked his knuckles loudly. "You may think you know what's going on now, but when everything gets brought to light, you may be wrong."

"I know that," Sydney said calmly. "But at the same I'd give that advice back to you."

* * *

"God, I can't believe you talked me into wearing this stupid dress!" Riley complained as she tilted her head to the side, putting a earring in her ear. "I was perfectly fine with that tuxedo thing that I found and it would have been cheaper for Gustavo to buy than this dress." She stood up from the vanity and placed her hands on her hips, turning towards Kendall. "I could have blended in better."

"Uh, last I checked, girls don't wear tuxes to a casino," Kendall said. He leaned into the mirror and tied his bow tie around his neck. He missed the first time, then frowned as he tried again.

"They could if I was blending in as a blackjack dealer," Riley insisted. "Syd taught me how to count cards, I could have done it."

Kendall didn't reply. He tried not to think about the possible danger that they were bring themselves in to, but he couldn't help it. He hadn't ever put himself in this big a sense of danger in his whole life. Now he had to run away from Los Angeles because he was being threatened and to protect his friends, then he gets trapped in a hotel after getting the crap beat out of him and he still didn't have any idea why. Now he was going to risk his life even further by going into a casino and meeting up with the thugs that were trying to hurt him, and get back a list that he wasn't aware that he had, and figure out why all of this was going on.

If he wasn't nervous before, he was feeling it now.

"You got the bag?" Riley asked.

"Yep." Kendall leaned down and picked up the small backpack. It was still filled with the money that he had taken from them before and the gun was also inside. He didn't plan on ever using the gun, but he did think that the money would be good enough bait to try and get some answers out of Price and his accomplice. "Got it right here."

"So what do you think's gonna happen?" Riley pulled her hair up and twisted it into a up do.

"I'd rather not think about that, actually." Kendall unzipped the bag and looked inside for a moment before he zipped it back up and slipped it over his shoulders. "Alright, let's go." He grabbed the card key and the two of them left the suite and went to the elevator. They had no problems there, there was only a few people that had gotten on with them and they barely glanced at the two teenagers that were riding along with them.

Kendall's grip tightened on the backpack straps as the two headed over to the entrance of the casino and walked in behind a large crowd. Kendall's eyebrows lowered as he glanced at the security that was standing by the door. "How did we get in?" Kendall whispered, nudging Riley on the arm.

"Uh," Riley gave him a funny look. "We _walked_ in," she said slowly as they walked down the steps and into the casino. The sound of slot machines whirring, groans of frustration, cheers of excitement, laughter, loud chatter, and people just having a good time.

"Ha ha." Kendall said shortly. "That's funny Cinderella; let's just hope that your slippers don't turn to glass before midnight."

"You're not going to stop this whole Disney princess thing are you?"

"No." Kendall's eyes swept over the casino and then stopped at the roulette table. He saw Price at the same time that Price saw him. Price nodded him over and Kendall took a deep breath before walking up to the table. As usual, his accomplice was sitting by his side, peering at Kendall through his glasses. Kendall sat down at the table, crossing his legs as Riley walked by the table, going to stay off to the side and watch. The men barely glanced at her. "So, I give you your bag back and we can just go on and act like we don't know each other," he said.

"Sorry, but you don't make the rules around here," the man with the glasses said.

"Lance, let him speak," Price said slowly. "He may have something interesting to say." He held out a hand, instructing Kendall to speak.

"I don't know what list you're talking about," Kendall said slowly. He clenched his hands into fists in his lap. "I have no idea what my dad could have possibly done to make you guys so pissed off, but I know that he's taken a lot of money from you and I know that he tried to keep people from finding out that he did take the money from you." He picked up the backpack and handed it over to Price. "Here's your money back, I don't need it."

Price took the bag and handed it over to Lance. "Check to make sure that it's all there," he instructed. Lance did as he was told, opening the bag and starting to look through it. "You have a lot to say for a kid that claims that he doesn't know what's going on."

"I don't," Kendall insisted. "But maybe you can clear some things up for me," he said. He felt himself starting to sweat. He didn't know if this idea was going to work, he could see so many ways that this would blow up in his face and he would get hurt by it. His heart was thudding against his chest as he looked back and forth from Price to Lance and back again. They knew what they were doing, that much was obvious from the way that they were looking at him.

Cold and Calculated.

They wouldn't hesitate to kill him if they needed to.

"You already know too much," Price said slowly. His teeth clenched in a snarl and slammed his fists onto the table, leaning towards Kendall. "Now give me the list and we'll disappear!" Kendall's gaze lowered when he noticed there was a gun in his hand. Kendall's eyes quickly lifted and as he moved his hand towards his pants pocket, to the gun that he had stolen from them before, he heard a click and froze.

Price had the gun pointed directly between his eyes.

Just like back at Gustavo's mansion.

Kendall thought of everything that had happened over the past couple of days. Gustavo and Kelly got hurt, Gustavo's mansion was blown up, he had to go on the run, his friends and family were being threatened, his life was being threatened at the moment, and now here he was, with a gun in his face, facing certain death. It made him more angry and scared and he was tired of running away. He was ready to get everything settled once and for all.

Kendall reached up his left hand and smacked Price across the face, at the same time; he yelled 'he's got a gun' before diving to the floor. Shouts and screams echoed around him as he crawled on his hands and knees and raced away from the roulette table. He looked behind him, hoping to draw Price away from where they originally were. Before he could start moving again, he felt himself get tackled from behind and fell hard to the ground. He wiggled out of the grasp and turned around to see Lance glaring furiously at him.

Kendall got to his feet and was knocked to the side a second later when he was punched across the face. Grabbing his jaw, Kendall turned back around and punched Lance in the face. He swung up his left arm to hit him, but Lance grabbed his arm and his neck. He lifted Kendall off of his feet and threw him over a row of slot machines. A gasp of hair burst out of Kendall's mouth as he hit the ground. He rolled onto his back and was punched across the face again. Kendall scrambled to his feet and tried to fight back, but Lance knew what he was doing and was able to continue to punch Kendall in the face between each swing that Kendall shot towards him.

* * *

Riley kicked off her heels as the crowd started to surge around her. Kendall's scream of there being a gun had done a good job to clear out the casino, but it didn't do a very good job of distracting Price and Lance. She barely got a chance to run after Kendall and Lance before Price had jumped into her path and hit her across the face so hard that she was knocked to the floor.

"You don't know what you're getting yourself into," Price said, taking deep breaths as he walked around her in a tight circle, watching as she struggled to get to her feet. "You're meddling in something that you shouldn't worry about."

"I wouldn't have to worry about it if you didn't stalk him so much," Riley got to her feet, rubbing her jaw. Her blue eyes were ablaze with fury.

"Or your friends and family I presume," Price said. He gave a wicked smile. "Just because you all left, it doesn't mean that you kept everyone back home safe. I mean, the fact that you left everyone unattended. You don't know if something is going to happen to your family."

"Touch anyone in my family and I swear I'll rip your head off," Riley threatened.

She pulled her arm back and punched Price in the face. He immediately turned back and grabbed a handful of her hair, pulling hard. Riley let out a shriek of pain and swung her foot up, kicking Price in the balls. But he tightened his grip on her hair and pulled harder. He twisted her around and slung an arm across her throat, effectively cutting off her air way. Riley's eyes narrowed and she hocked a loogie into his face. Price snarled at her before throwing her to the ground.

At that moment Price lunged towards her. Riley grabbed onto Price's wrist and pulled him forward, making him bend over, off balance. Fueled by adrenaline, Riley flipped him over her arm by pushing her arm down and back towards Price. He landed hard on the ground, letting out a cry of pain. Price reached up and grabbed onto Riley's leg, knocking her over before rolling on top of her. Riley twisted her body to the side as Price punched down towards her face and brought her leg up, kicking Price in the back of the head.

"Fucking cunt," Price swore.

"Fucking cocksucker!" Riley struck out her leg, hitting him again so that he fell off of her. She then grabbed grabbed his hair and smashed his forehead into the ground, knocking him out.

"Cinderella my ass," Riley said, wiping sweat off of her forehead.

* * *

Kendall let out a gurgling sound as Lance tightened his grip around his neck. He had Kendall pinned against a wall by his throat. Lance grinned devilishly as he looked into Kendall's face. "You want to play some more, huh?" He reached up and mockingly pinched Kendall's cheek, digging his nails into the skin. "You little man?"

Lance then threw him to the ground and started to stomp his foot down towards Kendall's face and chest, hoping to knock him out. Kendall continued to roll back and forth, missing each blow. But Lance had been moving so fast that he could hear a whistling sound and feel a slight breeze each time his foot came down towards the blonde teenager. He then dove forward and grabbed onto Kendall's neck again.

_Think Kendall, what would you do in hockey if you were crushed against the boards? How would you get the other guy to get off?_

Kendall leaned to the side as Lance went to punch him. Lance was knocked off balance and Kendall slammed his elbow into Lance's face. He then wrapped his legs around Lance's neck and started to squeeze as hard as he could. Lance screamed with fury as he continued to try and get to Kendall. Kendall reached up and hand and punched Lance in the face, over and over until he let go. He got to his feet and, breathing heavily, waited for Lance to make a move. Lance reached into his pocket and pulled out a gun. Kendall jumped up and did a twist in the air, kicking the gun out of his hand. He then drove his elbow into Lance's stomach and kicked him in the face. Lance's eyes rolled around in his head and he started to stumble around.

Kendall grabbed him by the front of the shirt and threw him into a slot machine, knocking him out. Standing over him, Kendall glared at Lance, his chest heaving up and down as he breathed heavily. He then kneeled down and continued to punch Lance over and over again. His knuckles started to sting with each hit, but Kendall kept going, only stopping when he was completely exhausted.

_He deserved it._

Kendall pulled off his tuxedo jacket and tossed it onto the ground before leaning over and searching Lance's pockets. Finding a set of car keys, he grabbed them into his fist and shoved them in his pocket. He was completely drenched with sweat and was shaking. He knew that as soon as the adrenaline wore off, he was either going to be sick or he was going to pass out. But he couldn't think about it at that moment.

He quickly turned his attention to the sirens that were starting to close in on the casino. His eyes scanned the room and he saw that it had emptied out. Riley was walking over to him, a pair of heels in her hands, looking more pissed off than he had ever seen before.

"Don't ask," she said sharply as soon as she reached him. "I think all the blood on my face is answer enough." Her eyes narrowed even further. "But if I find out that that guy touched any one of my family, then I swear to fucking god, I'll kill somebody."

"Good to know." Kendall pushed up the sleeves of his shirt and wiped blood off of his forehead. He reached out and grabbed onto Riley's pulling her into his arms in a hug. He could feel her shaking...or was he still shaking? He wasn't sure. All he knew was that he needed a sense of comfort...he could have that if his best friends were around, but he had to leave them behind to be sure that they were safe. He would do anything to be sure that they were safe. Riley reached up and hugged him back. He squeezed her harder.

"Ow!" Riley winced. "Hockey-Head, you're hurting me more than getting punched in the face hurt."

"Sorry." Kendall gave her a kiss on the forehead before letting her go .He rubbed his neck, feeling the bruising that was starting to form. "Come on, we have to get out of here before the police gets here." He lifted up a hand and twirled the car keys around his finger.

He was ready for all of this to be over and he could tell that it was getting there. He had to push away the guilt that he felt at the beginning of the whole ordeal. He now had to focus on getting to the bottom of the whole story and why he was being threatened due to something his father was doing. If things were going to end, it was going to be now.

Kendall turned on his heel and the two slipped out of the casino amongst the crowd of confused and panicked vacationers. The two went into the bathroom and cleaned up their faces. As Kendall dried his face, he couldn't help but notice his reflection. He had never seen himself so angry in his entire life; he even started to scare himself from how mad he looked. The two then left the bathroom and went into the parking lot, looking for the car that had gone to the car keys he had stolen from Lance.

They found the car, a bmw i8 spyder, and quickly got inside. Kendall peeled out of the parking lot so fast that the smell of burning rubber hit the air around them as he pulled out of the parking lot. Kendall kept his grip tightened on the steering wheel, almost as tight as his teeth were clenched together, merging onto the highway.

"Where to, now?" Riley leaned back in her seat, closing her eyes.

"4311 Clarington Blvd. Apartment 2," Kendall replied.

They were headed to Boston, Massachusetts.

* * *

**A/N: **Eh, I got a bit tired of Riley being there as a snarky sidekick sort of thing, though the story does focus on Kendall and she's not a main character in the fic. Wow, this story really strayed away with what I had planned for it from the very beginning but that was before I realized that I couldn't really draw out the story any longer than I had originally intended it. If I did, it would be a whole bunch of filler chapters that weren't needed just to draw suspense until I felt that I wanted to get to the climax of the story.

But I hope that you guys are enjoying it anyway, it's my first time trying to write a suspense/adventure sort of thing and by the end if I like it enough, I'll try it again with a new one in the future. But for that one, I won't try to plan it all out, or else it will screw me up, kind of like this one did. I prefer to do a story where I have the general plot idea and see where the story takes me.

The next chapter will be up soon.

Cheers,

-Riles


	10. True

**.:Chapter Ten:.**

* * *

Sydney scratched the side of his neck as his eyes scanned the documents in front of him. It was amazing how much people had missed over the years; they think that they know someone so well, but they don't know the person at all. There was always something in their life that was hidden well behind the façade and the walls that they could put up. They could even be the most open person in the world, but they still wouldn't open up to everything that they knew.

Sydney folded the documents and shoved them into this pocket before looking at his watch. He lifted his head mic to his mouth and changed the frequency so there wouldn't be any interference when they talked. It took him months to be able to perfect the idea and when he had finished it, it made it possible for him and his siblings to talk to each other, on or off stage, without the audience hearing them. He hoped it would work the way the he expected.

He picked up his phone and plugged the end of his head mic into the headphone jack and put in a combination of numbers. He waited as the phone rang and when the other person picked up, he immediately launched into his spiel.

"Look, I don't know what it is that you want, but I know that you don't want things to go south," Sydney said quickly. He looked at his watch. "I don't know where they are now, but soon they're going to be in Boston, you may want to get there."

"I'm already here," the man replied. "I'm just waiting to see if there's anything that I need help with."

"Got it." Sydney turned off the phone and then changed frequencies before he spoke into his head mic. "Ri-Ri, can you hear me?"

There was a moment of static and then his eldest sister's voice came on the line. "Yeah, I'm here," she said. "How's it going? Is everyone there ok? Did anyone hurt your? What-"

"Ri, calm down and breathe," Sydney said calmly. "We're all fine here. Just waiting to see what's going to happen." He let out a light chuckle. "Though that's really not funny." He cleared his throat. "Where are you right now? Are you still in Vegas?"

"No, we're in Boston now, just got her e last night," Riley replied. "I've got some news for ya." She explained everything that had happened from when Kendall started to get bothered by the men that were constantly harassing him all the way up to when they left Vegas and made it all the way to Boston. Sydney listened intently and wrote down everything that she told him.

"Alright," Sydney said, pushing the notes aside. "Do you still have that envelope that I gave you?"

"Yeah I got it with my passport and ID," Riley said.

"Well, the passport and ID were a 'just in case' sort of thing, but I didn't think that you would need those," Sydney said quickly. "But you definitely do need what's in the envelope." He gave a sly smile, though she couldn't see him. "And I know that you're especially going to like it, though not as much as you possibly could. Keep in touch."

"Got it, Little Man."

Sydney pulled off his head mic and let out a weary sigh. Now all he could do was wait for the aftermath of everything. And the wait was going to drive him crazy.

* * *

When Kendall woke up, he was legitimately confused. He, at first, though that he was still driving the i8 spyder and mentally freaked when he sat up, his hands out in front of him. Then he lowered his arms and was confused, noticing that he wasn't anywhere in a car. He wasn't in the suite in Vegas either, and that made things even worse. After lying back down and resting for another half hour, he finally figured out where he was, but wasn't exactly sure how he had gotten there. Kendal climbed out of bed and ran his hands over his face, trying to wake himself up. He then walked out of the bedroom and into the main area of the spacious apartment, looking around.

It didn't look like anyone had been there in years, there was dust everywhere, and there weren't a lot of decorations on the walls or any of the furniture. No pictures, no way to know if anyone still lived there, though he figured it was important that no one did currently live there. It was probably the only thing that gave him a short sense of comfort.

"How'd I get here?" Kendall asked Riley, who was sitting at the counter, flipping through a phone book.

"We switched drivers so you could get some sleep," she said, still flipping through pages. "Then I dragged your body here." She shrugged. "This neighborhood looks kind of sketchy so the fact that I dragged you like a rag doll shouldn't have created that much of an issue." She finally lifted her head and looked at Kendall. "I carried you, and by the way, you're really heavy."

"Well that was a good shot at my masculinity," Kendall remarked.

"No worries there." Riley pointed over her shoulder. "There're some clothes in the closet over there, you know, in case you don't want to walk around in that tux all day."

"Thanks." Kendall went over to the closet and pulled it open.

He tilted his head to the side and scanned the jackets, shirts, and pants that were in front of him. He finally decided on a jacket, a dark blue t-shirt, and black jeans to change into. He went into the bathroom to clean up, and was glad when he found a razor, so he was able to shave the stubble that had grown in over the past couple of days. He took the time to study his face. The swelling had gone down considerably, but he could still feel fresh blood out of his busted lip, and he was very sore. But he couldn't stop until everything was all said and done. He washed his face and quickly brushed his teeth with the toothpaste that he had found in the medicine cabinet, using his finger as a brush. He then rinsed out his mouth and went back out into the main area of the apartment.

"What are you looking for?" Kendall asked, walking over to the kitchen to find something to eat. All he found was a box of nutria-grain bars. He ate two of them quickly, not caring that they were a bit stale, just as long as he was able to get something to eat.

"A-"

She stopped as her phone started to ring. A confused look crossed her face and she pulled it from her pocket. She answered the phone and then handed it over to Kendall. He grabbed the phone and looked at the ID. He frowned when he saw that it was unknown, before putting it to his ear. "Hello?" He asked hesitantly.

He immediately recognized Price's voice on the other end of the phone. "It's so convenient how a cell phone can be turned into a listening device as well," Price said in a low voice. You have something that belongs to me and now's the time to give it back. Don't be foolish, hand it over and everything will be fine. "

Kendall sucked his lips into his mouth. _The list…of course…_"What kind of guarantee can you give me?"

"I can guarantee this, if you don't surrender that list, I will be killing every friend you have. And when I finish, you'll be responsible for the death of every friend of your MyFace and ScuttleButter. But I think there are two people in particular that you don't want hurt. Am I right, Kendall? Your mother and sister are at the PalmWoods, waiting for news on you as they have been for a while. If I don't have the list soon, they're dead."

"Ok, ok." Kendall took a deep breath, holding his hand to his forehead. "So how are we going to do this?"

"Simple," Price said calmly. "I give you a time and a place."

Kendall looked up as Riley waved her hands to get his attention. She held up what was in the envelope that Sydney had given her, and he gave a short nod before speaking into the phone again. "No," he said firmly. "I'll pick the time and place…somewhere public…."

* * *

There is a place, in the vast country that is America that worships professional sports more than any other place in the world. The pace is Boston, Massachusetts. Being a Boston sports fan isn't a gradual process or a hobby, it's a job. If there is one thing that New Englanders can do well, it is being a sports fan. And Kendall got a good look at that when he and Riley arrived at Fenway Park. There were Red Sox fans milling everywhere; talking, laughing, buying food and drinks, hurrying to their seats so they wouldn't miss a minute of the game, even going as far as to shove people out of their way as they ran to the raised bleachers. He could hear people fighting over which player was better, as he and Riley flashed their tickets to head inside.

Kendall looked over at Riley and despite the determined look on her face; he could tell that she was in heaven, much like he would be if they were at a hockey game at that moment. As they continued towards their seats, Riley's phone rang again. Kendall pulled it from his pocket and lifted it to his ear.

"Hello?" He asked.

"Hello. Kendall." The voice replied.

"Who is this?" Kendall's stride slowed.

"It's me." It took Kendall a long moment before he recognized the voice of his father. "I need you to turn around and walk out of that stadium now." Kendall slowed to a walk as he continued to listen to his father. "

"Dad?" Kendall's eyebrows lowered. Riley stopped and whipped around to face him. She stepped closer to him, trying to hear what was being said.

"You can't go in there," Kevin continued. "Price will kill you. I'm here to help you, son, don't worry."

"I've made it this far, without your help haven't I?" Kendall waved a hand to Riley and the two started walking again.

"Don't do anything too rash. I'm on my way. Just trust me."

"You're too little too late, Dad," Kendall said. "I'm done waiting." He ended the call and shoved the phone back into his pocket just as he and Riley walked out to the area where their seats were. It was one of the seats that were lower to the ground, closer to the field, and out from under the cover from the sun. They were sitting by the green monster.

Kendall looked up as the two headed down the steps towards their seats and saw that Price was matching them, step for step, as they headed to their seats. He kept eye contact with Price, shuffling through the aisle, past people's knees and sat down. Price was trying to blend in by eating a bag of popcorn.

"Do you have my list?" Price asked out of the corner of his mouth.

"How can I be so sure that you won't kill me?" Kendall asked. He kept his eyes on the field. He wasn't too sure what was going on during game play, but he didn't want to bring too much attention to himself and to those around them, or else massive panic would ensue. It just reminded him of what happened back in Vegas. He frowned. _I wonder what happened to Lance…_

"You don't trust me?" Price asked, his eyebrows twitching.

Riley snorted.

Kendall continued to scan the field, wondering what was going to happen next. He could feel his heart beat starting to increase with his worry. He was starting to sweat, and he couldn't sit still. Could Price tell everything that he was going to do before he did it? Did he know that he was bluffing? There was no way to tell.

"Then again, you father is a lawyer that ruined my life through lies, deceit, and robbery, why should you trusting me be a problem?" Price shrugged as he continued to eat his popcorn. "If anything, I shouldn't trust _you_." He lifted his left hand, which was free of the popcorn bag, revealing a small gun that he was holding. Kendall's eyes widened and he started to feel around his pants pockets. "Now, now, you know the answer to this one," Price said slowly. "You should have known that I wouldn't come to meet someone without being a _little _bit prepared."

"Now!" Riley hissed, surging forward out of her seat.

Kendall reacted quickly, knocking the popcorn bag out of Price's hand. Amidst the confusion, Kendall and Riley scrambled down the rows of seats to the edge of the green monster. Riley swung her legs over the top and jumped to the ground, Kendall flung himself after her. He let out a grunt as the wind was knocked out of him when he landed heavily on his side. But Riley grabbed onto his arm and pulled him to his feet and the two started to race across the field.

Cheers and screams erupted around the stadium as the two teenagers ran across the field. Before they could make it all the way across to the other side of the stands, security came out of nowhere and started to chase them. Kendall ducked to the right, under the arm of one security guard and ran even faster. He doubled back and twisted out of the way as two other officers charged towards him, causing them to crash into each other. The players from the Red Sox and the Blue Jays stopped playing and watched as the teenagers ran back and forth across the field, trying to get away from the security guards as well as make it to the other side of the park.

Kendall reached it first, vaulting himself over the low wall and then turned around to bring Riley up behind hm. The two then ran up the bleachers and into the crowded area that went to the parking lot. They pushed through as many people as they could before ducking into a gift shop and ducking down underneath the windows, trying to catch their breath.

"Told you that would work," Riley said, wiping sweat off of her face. "He wouldn't be dumb enough to bring even more attention to himself by chasing after."

"Yeah, but now we have all of the security here looking for us," Kendall said.

"That's the idea," Riley replied.

Kendall pulled his in-ears from his pocket as they started to make a beeping sound. "What's up?"

"Where are you?" Sydney demanded. "Did Fenway security get you?"

Kendall's eyebrows lowered. "Wait. How did you know that we're on the game?"

"Hello?" Sydney cried. "I gave Riles the tickets, thinking that you'd need a public place to go. I knew that there was an apartment in Boston that your Dad used to stay in when he had to do some jobs over on the East Coast. So that's why we said that you had to stay there. And if Price was going to follow you over to Boston, there was going to be some sort of confrontation and if that was going to happen, you had to be in a public place to better your odds.

"And I've been watching the game like crazy on my laptop. If there was going to be some big move that you all made to be sure to get away from that guy, and then I knew that there was going to be some coverage of it."

"You're so smart, it's scary," Kendall remarked. He placed a hand on his chest, his breathing calming down. "We're in a gift shop. On the upper level."

"Ok, listen; I need you to lead him to the South Parking lot."

"If I do that, we're dead," Kendall said. He looked over at Riley, who was peering out the windows, trying to see if he could see Price.

"If you stay where you are, you're dead for sure," Sydney said quickly. "Lead him outside. Trust me. You have someone that you can help."

Kendall ripped his in-ears out of his ear and shoved them into his pocket. He grabbed onto Riley's hand and the two stood up, leaving the gift shop. He looked through the crowd for Price, and when he caught the man's gaze, from a few hundred feet away, he feigned fear and turned around, starting to run, knowing that Price was chasing after them. Kendall and Riley ran all the way from one side of the stadium to the other, using anything they could get distance in between them and the angry man. They had even used a glass walkway as a slide to get down from one level to another, instead of using the stairs. Price continued to run after them, staying close on their heels, waving the gun and screaming Kendall's name as he did so. The two reached a set of stairs. Kendall looked over his shoulder as Price continued to run behind him, he was closer than he thought. Kendall grabbed onto the banister and threw himself over it, falling to the concrete floor and landing on his feet.

He let out a scream of pain, his right ankle buckling underneath him. He fell to the ground, baseball fans looking at him as if he was crazy, but not bothering to come over and help him. Riley raced down the stairs and grabbed onto his arm, hauling him to his feet. He threw an arm across her shoulders and the two of them ran as fast as they could out of the stadium. Kendall and Riley finally made their way out to the parking lot and continued to run, even though Price was continuously getting closer and closer.

"KENDALL!" Price screamed, enraged.

Kendall only stopped running when he heard screams and turned his head to see that Price had the gun pointed towards the two of them. He held out his hands as he turned around completely to face Price. People that were milling around the parking lot screamed and ran away, ducking for cover.

_"You!"_

_Kendall opened his eyes and looked up to see the man had noticed him in the doorway. He turned back to Kelly and pistol-whipped her, the blow on her head knocking her out. He then turned and raised the gun, leveling it towards Kendall's heart. "Any sudden movements and you're dead!" He said. Kendall slowly moved away from the wall he was hiding behind, holding his hands up. "Do you know what kind of trouble we got into looking for you?"_

_Kendall swallowed thickly. He was shaking all over. "I don't think I could guess," he stammered._

_The man managed an evil smile as he continued to walk towards Kendall. "Lie down on your stomach." Kendall continued to watch the man, frozen. "GET ON THE GROUND!"_

"You've run far enough, and frankly, I'm tired of chasing after you!" Price's chest was heaving up and down with the effort of the chase. "I'll just shoot you now and get what I want the easy way!" He pulled back the trigger on his gun. "Just like I always wanted to do."

Kendall closed his eyes.

"It's over."

_"I'm here to help you, son, don't worry."_

A shot rang out.

Beside him, Kendall heard Riley jump and let out a shriek. Kendall opened his eyes and saw Price pitched over on the ground, holding onto his chest. A pool of blood started to spill out underneath him. Kendall's eyes opened wide as he stared at the dying man in front of him. He reached down and picked up the phone as it rang again, it was his father.

"You're very brave, Kendall." Kevin chuckled. "I haven't handled things very well these past couple of years. I made mistakes. I admit that I did lie and cheat and steal my way to the top. But I quickly realized what was going on and tried to change my way. But, I got mixed up in the wrong people and they wouldn't see anything has changed unless I was out of the picture. When I went into hiding…they went after you. I'm sorry." Kendall could hear a sense of pride in his father's voice. "But you've handled yourself pretty well; I can't wait to see the highlights of you running across outfield, though I was sure that you were a hockey fan, not baseball."

"Where are you?" Kendall's eyes started to scan the parking lot, hoping for a glimpse of his father. But all he could distinguish were people running and screaming, the sounds of ambulances and police cars coming their way and the sound of the baseball game still going on in the background.

"Right here, watching from a distance like I always have." Kevin sighed. "All I wanted to do was to keep you safe and make sure that you didn't get hurt. I tried to do all of that from LA, along with your friend Sydney. He's a smart boy, he figured out what I was doing pretty quickly." He cleared his throat. Kendall continued to look around the parking lot before looking back at Price's body, his jaw clenching. "But I failed. I'm sorry, Kendall. I doubt that you'd like to see me right now."

"But-"

"I made certain choices a long time ago and I have to live with those consequences, not you, your mother or Katie."

"Dad…" Kendall's gaze lowered to his feet.

"Kendall, just know that I'm really proud of you. I lost the chance to be your Dad a long time ago, but I am your father. You're going to be alright. I'm sorry, son. Goodbye, Kendall."

Kendall slowly smiled as he hung up the phone. Everything was over and done with. He didn't have to worry about being chased anymore, everything was going to come out in the open and everyone he knew was safe and sound back in LA…thanks to his father. He turned to Riley.

"C'mon, let's go home." He grabbed onto her hand and the two of them walked over to the security guards that were running their way.

**THE END**

* * *

**A/N: **And now the story is over. Because this story was completely based off of the movie Abduction, it was only so long because I finished the movie plot to finish the story, haha. So, yeah, the guy that had been looking for him the whole time was his dad, the men that were in his office were working for him, which is why they didn't attack Sydney. There was never a list because it was destroyed years before and Kevin actually turned over a new leaf. I bet you didn't see it coming.

I always wanted to do a story that focused on Kendall and Sydney and I enjoyed this one, but I also have an idea for a new one. I don't know when it'll be up though.

But, I'm glad that you guys like it so much, thanks for all of the support and the favorites and the alerts and the reviews. I'm so glad that I made a story that you enjoyed and couldn't wait for and I'm glad that I did the suspense and cliffhangers well enough for you all to want more. Thanks again! Oh and I have a epilogue planned for this story that'll be up soon.

Cheers,

-Riles


End file.
